After months of debate and speculation, Harmony council decided last week it will not sell the borough's water system.

The Pennsylvania-American Water Co. has had a standing offer on the table for more than a year to buy the Harmony system and its 640 customers for $1.5 million.

By a 4-3 vote, council members said they will keep the system and work on a proposed merger with Zelienople's water system. If the merger falls through, Harmony will go it alone.

Most council members said they believe that with hard work and dedication, the ailing system can be rebuilt and the Harmony Water Authority, which operates the borough-owned system, can become financially viable.

Councilman Dave Rogers said even if the authority fails, the borough will still have the option of selling down the road.

"We need to get the water system in order," Rogers said. "But Pennsylvania-American is not going away because we're in their way."

Council President Jeff Smith disagreed with the decision, saying most members were looking at the issue emotionally.

"If you looked at just the finances involved, the vote would be 7-0 and the system would be gone," he said. Smith said the water system is facing $200,000 in repairs to comply with a state Department of Environmental Protection consent decree.

"That's $220 per person in this borough that they will never get back," he said.

Resources for Communities and People, a private, nonprofit company hired by the state Department of Environmental Protection to coordinate the study into a merger between Harmony and Zelienople, said Harmony is facing $7 million in needed improvements to its system.

Without a merger or a sale, the agency said, Harmony may be forced to raise its monthly water rates for an average household from the current $30.10 to $62.74 to pay for the work.

Councilman Gary Habsburg, who voted with Smith and Harold Herr for a sale, said the authority is bleeding money with no end in sight.

He said the authority lost $45,000 last year, $95,000 in 2002 and is $225,000 in the red for 2004.

"They haven't shown that the Water Authority can operate at a profit," he said.

Authority member John Rice told council he believes the authority can solve its problems for less than has been estimated. He said the authority is not asking the borough for financial help.

"It's been my experience that all we do is give you people checks," he said. "We're not broken, and we don't need fixed."

The Water Authority has recommended a merger with Zelienople contingent on a new water plant being built on the Little Connoquenessing Creek to serve both boroughs.

Zelienople council has yet to vote on a merger.