Municipal authority still has unresolved issues with DEP
BROWNSVILLE – Most of the Brownsville Municipal Authority’s problems with payments due from the Pennsylvania American Water Co. have been resolved, but there are still unresolved issues with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Pennsylvania American has paid the municipal authority most of the money owed for excess sludge treatment, plus $40,740 toward the cost of the new interim sludge holding tank. The water company has paid $44,741.63 for sludge treatment from October 2001 through May 2002 and $3,498.27 for treatment in June of this year. There is still an outstanding balance of $15,183.12 for sludge treatment from January 2001 through September 2001. The authority is now billing the water company on a monthly basis.
The authority is still unable to move forward with its plans for a new treatment facility, however, because it has not yet received approval of flow data submitted by the authority needed to determine the size of the treatment facility.
Engineer Rusty Mechling said the DEP asked him for additional information related to water flow during storms.
He had provided daily flow figures and the DEP requesting figures for flows for the duration of storms, not from midnight to midnight. Mechling said the additional information has been provided, but there has been no response from the DEP.
Solicitor Ernest DeHaas said he has sent a letter to the DEP notifying the agency that without the flow data approval, the authority will not be able to meet the Nov. 15 deadline for submitting the design for a new treatment plant.
Widmer Engineering, which is designing the plant, has said it needs three months for plan finalization once it is known how large of a plant must be built. The flow data approval is also needed before plans can be finalized for improvements to Pump Station A.
Authority chairman Fred Provance said the DEP has given the authority conflicting information.
“They’ve told us we’re the ones that have to be happy with the size of the plant and the flow monitoring,” Provance said.
DeHaas said it is possible that none of the flow monitoring done to date will be accepted by the DEP, which would put the authority back at square one.
“I’m not going to pay twice to get new flows,” said authority member Henry Vulcan.
Provance said the real question will be whether the DEP will permit the authority to build a plant to handle routine flows, or whether the plant will have to be sized to handle extreme flows. The average daily flow now is 600,000 gallons, with a plant that can handle 100,000 gallons, but has had overflow problems during excessively wet weather.