SOUTH HAVEN | Customers served by the South Haven Sewer Works may not be noticing much difference in their service, but since the company was purchased in August by Aqua Indiana, Inc., workers have been busy making repairs.

"Most of the work we are doing right now is not visible," said Bill Etzler, vice president and regional manager of Aqua.

Focusing on the old South Haven area, workers have been inspecting all manholes and sewer lines in the system, replacing some 118 manhole casings and bringing them up to grade. They've also been televising lines and are in the process of relining some 2,500 feet of existing pipe to prevent leaks.

The system's infrastructure, which services about 4,000 customers in the area, was in bad shape when the company purchased the sewer works from David Saylor, said Etzler, who praised Saylor for his efforts in trying to meet a 2003 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency order to fix the system. Saylor, he said, fell short because he didn't have the funding to finish the project.

That's where Aqua came in.

"We specialize in distressed systems. We are interested in troubled utilities because we are experts in doing it," said Etzler, adding that being a nationwide company with operates water and wastewater utilities in 13 states, provides them with the funds needed to repair a system and make it run more efficiently. He said the company turned around the Fort Wayne system, which was in worse shape than the South Haven system when they took it over.

"The first thing we need to do is get a firm grasp on what needs to be done. Our first real goal is to do a sewer system evaluation study," said Etlzer.

The study should be completed in April. Then Aqua will complete a capacity assessment and a sewer model.

"Those will give us the real work program we will enter into in 2010," he said, adding Aqua also is planning upgrades at a pump station, which it said is undersized for the flow coming into the plant and will change the screening system to filter things out of the flow before they reach the plant.

Altogether, the company plans to invest about $3 million in repairs.

The company's first priority is environmental.

"Our goal is to not put sewage in the streams where it ends up in Lake Michigan," Etzler said.

The second goal is to solve operational issues.

Etzler said the company will investigate the possibility of a metered service. Customers have often requested the company change from a flat monthly billing to one based on usage. Etzler said Aqua does that with some of its other operations, but would have to sit down and talk with Indiana American Water, which provides water to the communities, to discuss if that would be done.

Etzler, who has been with the company for nine years and previously served as transportation director in both Allen and Noble counties, said the company also is interested in growth.

"We see Northwest Indiana as a great growth area," he said.

The company operates both water and wastewater utilities in a portion of southern Lake County since 1999 and provide services in and around Indianapolis.

Etzler said the company will also work not to increase rates. Presently South Haven customers pay $64.95 per month. Its Fort Wayne customers pay $48 per month, but that will increase in June to $54 per month.

Customers will see the first evidence of change next month when customer service operations switch to the company's Fort Wayne office and the name will officially be changed to Aqua. There will still be a drop box for customers to pay bills in South Haven.

"They're not going to see anything change on the surface. Other than upper management, all employees are still on board. They're getting new skills and training on new equipment," said Etzler, who is working in the South Haven office two days per week.

Etzler said they operate a very open company.

"If they (customers) have any questions and need information, don't hesitate to call and ask for me," he said, adding that, during the recent Fort Wayne rate case, he got about 100 calls and notes and personally responded to each one. "I like people."