Local leaders gain time to study future water needs
DUNBAR TWP. – With the immediate battle won regarding the reallocation of water to a neighboring municipal authority, state, county and local officials are now looking to assess its future needs for the natural resource and ensure its continued quality and quantity. “This was a definite wake-up call for the county,” said Fayette County Commissioner Vincent Vicities. “If we are going to control our own destiny, we are going to have to be more visionary in our thinking.”
Vicities and other state and local government officials, along with community representatives met this week to discuss the long awaited report findings released last month by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regarding its determination to allocate requested water supplies to the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County (MAWC).
Initially, MAWC had requested authorization to draw an additional 17 million gallons of water each day from the Youghiogheny and reserve storage space for the allocation in the reservoir.
The corps has determined to delay any water reallocation to MAWC to April 2007 and permit the 10,000 acre-feet of reservoir storage space originally set aside for the water supplier to also be available to other authorities seeking to increase their water quantities.
“The draft report describes a program that will better position the region for future economic growth by assuring there will be an adequate supply of quality drinking water for all users,” said Robert P. Waigand, corps project manager.
The corps oversees discharges from the Yough Dam, and through a 1999 financial partnership with MAWC, conducted the feasibility study to determine the impact of the additional water withdrawals and availability of reservoir storage space.
MAWC does possess a state Department of Environmental Protection permit for the withdrawals, but was required to seek additional storage space for the reserve supply.
“We have to commend the Westmoreland authority for looking to the future and preparing themselves to meet their growth needs,” Vicities said. “This delay gives us time to assess where Fayette County is going to be 20 and 50 years from now. We cannot only plan for the immediate future, but we have to look further down the road, to what the needs will be for future generations.”
Connellsville resident Dr. William Colvin was also pleased with the results of the corps study.
“We accomplished what we originally set out to do,” said Colvin, who served a key role as leader of a private citizen coalition opposed to the withdrawals. “(MAWC) is not going to be able to pull the entire 17 million gallons per day out of the river and Fayette County now has several years to make its plans.”
While the delay in withdrawals was welcomed news, the corps proposed plan to cutback on the amount of water released during the summer months was not received with any enthusiasm from the officials.
According to the figures, water output from the dam would be cut by nearly one-third of its current release from July 1 to mid-October.
Gregory Shaffer, spokesman for Crouse and Company, a firm hired by the county to work with the local coalition in assessing the corps study results and assist in developing a long-term water needs plan, said that normal releases would be slashed although the reservoir would be at near full capacity.
“Are we going to be out of water this summer and fall when we have tourists coming in?” asked Dawson Borough resident Pat Trimble of the corps representatives. “This is when the communities along the Yough do most of their canoeing and kayaking business.”
Waigand conceded that water levels would be lower, but only during drier years, which he said, only occurred one out of every 10 years.
“We are confident (the flow reduction) will not affect the rafters,” Waigand said.
South Connellsville Rod and Gun Club and Yough Fisherman’s Association member Roger Uhazie also voiced concern in connection to the decreased release schedule noting that less water could severely impact the environmental condition of the waterway.
In addition to detrimental rising water temperatures, Uhazie said that acid mine drainage pollutants would less likely be diluted if supplies were cut back.
“That river is very fragile,” he said. “Who’s going to monitor the quality of the water? Where is it going to be done? What are we going to monitor? These are critical questions and there are no plans in this report to monitor.”
North Fayette County Municipal Authority manager Bob Softcheck said from the standpoint of a water purveyor, the revised release schedule is a better timetable for those providing customers with water.
“We always thought the release schedule, although it was being pushed by MWAC, would be also agreeable to our uses,” he said. “This is one way to have insurance for additional water when the drought conditions occur in the late fall. Most people believe the drier conditions take place earlier, but it is the late fall when there is more concern.”
Softcheck said he was unable to comment in connection to the environmental or recreational concerns issued by others, noting North Fayette’s responsibility is to provide water to its customers.
“The water will be there if it is needed,” Softcheck said. “The current schedule calls for an early spring release and once it’s gone, it’s gone. With the revised schedule, it will be held, and if the weather conditions necessitate its release, it will be released.”
State Rep. James Shaner (D-Dunbar), who spearheaded the committee, said a letter will be drafted in response to the corps report, noting the continued concerns of the group, before it is submitted for final review by federal officials.
“We have achieved basically all the points we wanted to achieve,” said Shaner. “There are still concerns and these need to be addressed.”
Shaner said, too, that the county needs to be more proactive, rather than reactive, in its planning for the future.
“We have accomplished a lot, but there still are battles to fight,” he said.
The corps will receive input to the report until Jan. 31. Copies of the report are available at the Carnegie Free Library in Connellsville, the Uniontown Public Library, the Mary Fuller Community Library in Perryopolis, Penn State Fayette Campus Library, and the Brownfield Public Library in Dawson and on the Corps Web site at http://www.lrp.usace.army.mil.