Hiller families to get assistance for flooding problem
BROWNSVILLE – Two Hiller families who have repeatedly been flooded when their sewers back up during heavy storms will be getting some assistance from the Brownsville Municipal Authority. The authority agreed Tuesday to send an engineer to the homes of Dennis and Pam Pazzabon of 111 Second St. and to the home of Sam and Susan Zupich of 1102 Second St. to see if there are ways the problem can be addressed locally, while the authority is continuing to resolve the larger issue of storm water getting into the sanitary sewer lines. It was recommended that the property owners install a check valve system to prevent the sewer water from backing up into their homes.
Authority chairman Fred Provance said the authority has been working diligently to correct the flooding problem in Hiller and recently discovered two storm drains illegally connected to the sanitary sewer system. Both storm drains were taken out of the sewers. In addition, the authority replaced about 300 feet of sewer line near the Army Reserve Center in Hiller in an effort to prevent run-off from the reserve center parking lot getting into a manhole near the foot of the center’s driveway.
“The storm water was actually washing our manhole away,” Provance said.
He suggested that Luzerne Township continue to work with the reserve center and the Army Corps of Engineers to address the run-off issue.
A video camera will be used to check the sewer lines on several streets in Hiller this week to look for additional areas where storm water may be infiltrating the system. Provance said the authority is also checking to see if any of the sewer lines were damaged over the past several years when the Pennsylvania-American Water Company installed a new 18-inch line from the reservoir to the plant in order to provide water to Uniontown.