Officials attend water management meeting
MENALLEN – County officials turned out for a water management meeting, but the public stayed home. Regional Water Management Task Force held an informational session for the county Tuesday evening at the Menallen Elementary School off Route 40 in order to bring to light some of the water problems within the region.
Ty Gourley, project manager for the task force, told the less than a dozen officials in attendance that the task force’s job in the initial phase is to “look at managing resources” and figure out “how to make better decisions in managing.”
Commissioner Angela Zimmerlink was disappointed that no township supervisors showed for the meeting. She explained that the supervisors are connected to the people.
“We need to get them involved now,” she added.
The task force covers 11 counties in southwestern Pennsylvania, including Fayette. Those counties contain 260 water/sewage authorities.
The problems with water in the region stem from “deteriorating infrastructure; lack of planning; sewage discharge overlook; corrective action plans, consent orders and tap-in restrictions; and an aging work force,” according to Gourley, who also noted that the task force is looking at regional inefficiencies and nuances of regional approaches to regional problems.
“The key is finding what will work in southwestern Pennsylvania,” he noted. “We need to be thinking forward.”
He admitted that the challenge for the board is to create a consensus, but not create another bureaucracy.
“We’ve seen other places do this,” he encouraged.
Multi-municipal collaborations might help, he added, noting that doing so offers efficiency, better funding and equity.
The task force wants to know specifically the problems facing Fayette County, Gourley told the audience.
The absence of supervisors did not deter task force member Deb Simko. The Salt Lick Township resident would like to hold individual township meetings, she noted.
Call the task force at 412-624-7792 for information.