FORT WASHINGTON, Pa., July 6, 2004 -- Two subcontractors for the Chelsea (Mass.) Water Department recently came to the rescue of a woman who had dropped her one-day-old, $11,000 diamond engagement ring into a Chelsea catch basin.
On May 18, a frantic Valery Decola of Chelsea called Ray Gelinas, operations and maintenance manager for Weston & Sampson Services, a subcontractor to R.H. White Construction, which manages the Chelsea system. In a panic, she told Gelinas that she had accidentally dropped her brand new engagement ring into one of the department's catch basins. Decola's fiancé had given her the ring just the night before. Because it had not yet been properly fitted, the ring was too loose on her finger and fell off her hand while she was stopped by the side of the road near a grate covering the catch basin.
Gelinas immediately called Kenneth Moore, an R.H. White field technician, and John Richter, a field technician for Severn Trent Services, a leading supplier of water and wastewater treatment solutions, which also serves as a subcontractor for the Chelsea system. Together, they went to the catch basin, vacuumed out as much water as they could and began searching. Moore and Richter spent 45 minutes to an hour looking for the ring, finally finding it among some debris that had been several inches below the water surface.
"I called Valery at work and told her we found the ring," said Gelinas. "She was so happy, she was sobbing over the phone. And I could hear all her friends cheering in the background."
The "lost and found engagement ring" story was picked up by Boston television station WCVB-TV, an ABC Network affiliate, which ran a story during its 11:00 p.m. newscast.
About Severn Trent Services
Severn Ttrent Services (www.severntrentservices.com), based in Fort Washington, Pa., is a supplier of water and wastewater treatment solutions. The company's broad range of products and services I concentrated around disinfection and filtration technologies, pipeline analysis, rehabilitation and repair services, contract operating services, and state-of-the-art residential metering products. Severn Trent Services is a member of the Severn Trent Plc group of companies. An international environmental services leader, Severn Trent is an FTSE 100 company.
