Andrews is a town in Dallas Township
Huntington County, Indiana, United States.
The population was 1,149 at the 2010 census.
In 2022, the Town Council is moving forward with plans to relocate the water plant and public drinking water wells. The Town is making a second application for SRF grant money from the State of Indiana. A Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) is available for public viewing at the Clerk’s Office or at this link: Andrews Drinking Water PER FINAL A Public Hearing was held on May 9 and the deadline is May 17, 2022 to turn in written comments about the project to the Clerk-Treasurer’s Office.
The Town of Andrews was not awarded SWIF or SRF grant money from the State of Indiana in 2021. The Town fully intends to reapply for both grants in 2022, and will complete the OCRA application process once additional grant funding is secured. All residential surveys and letters received in 2021 will be included with next year’s application.
Andrews residents, please take the following anonymous survey to accompany the Town’s application for $700,000.00 in OCRA grant money. http://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NNMTQQC
Important Information about the drinking water in Andrews.
In early July 2020, IDEM tests on the town’s finished water show all VOCs are below the State’s recommended MCL. According to Indiana standards, the water is “safe” to use when the air stripper is online and functioning normally.
However, the Town of Andrews advises residents not to consume the water due to the potential presence of Vinyl Chloride, cis-1,2-DCE, and possibly TCE or other breakdown components in the water. Please do not drink or cook with the water if you are serviced by the town’s water utility. To limit possible exposure to harmful vapors, use lukewarm (not hot) water for laundry, dishes, and take brief showers or baths. Do not heat or boil the tap water. All of these measures are precautionary until the town can guarantee the water is being properly treated with a reliable method to remove VOCs before entering the water plant. The current air stripper equipment and building is owned and operated by Raytheon Technologies, formerly United Technologies, and is not accessible by the Town of Andrews utility employees. In the past, the Town has not been notified of mechanical or electrical breakdowns with the air stripper equipment, and an electronic warning system was never put in place for when the air stripper fails.
A complaint was filed in Huntington Superior Court June 19, 2020. Click on the “Activities” tab for additional details and links to learn more about this litigation to provide clean drinking water to the Town’s utility customers.
At the July 26, 2021 council meeting, Council President John Harshbarger informed those in attendance of a court decision to the Preliminary Injunction filed in 2020 regarding the drinking water contamination. After hearing the Town’s case in November 2020, Judge Chad Kukelhan, in Adams County, denied the Town’s motion on February 18, 2021. There is no explanation for the filing delay and resulting late notification. Apparently, the Judge felt no emergency existed since test results never indicated finished water with VOCs present over the MCL, only at the maximum allowed.
Now the Town must wait until the full hearing on the case filed in 2016. Meanwhile, Council has decided to proceed on their own with relocating the wells to a clean water aquifer. Multiple funding sources for this project are currently being pursued and Council has no indication at this time as to the amounts that the Town will receive, nor effect on residential water rates.
Geography
Andrews is located at 40°51′39″N 85°36′3″W (40.860824, -85.600960).
According to the 2010 census, the town has a total area of 0.65 square miles (1.7 km), of which 0.64 square miles (1.7 km) (or 98.46%) is land and 0.01 square miles (0.026 km) (or 1.54%) is water.