CLEARFIELD – The wastewater treatment facility project will be 90 percent operational by Friday with flow switched from the old plant to the new one this week, according to Jim Balliet of Gwin, Dobson & Foreman during yesterday’s Clearfield Municipal Authority meeting.
He said on Monday they began transferring mixed liquor from the old process to the new biological reactors and late tonight they expect to have the treated effluent to pass through the ultra violet system and began discharging.
Balliet also reported GDF submitted an update to the state Department of Environmental Protection on Oct. 27. Between Oct. 20 and Oct. 22, heavy rainfall caused a bypass at the Montgomery Sanitary Sewer Overflow.
The total fine for the three-day event is $2,750, 80 percent of which will be paid by the township. Balliet said they will need to have a meeting with the township, borough and their engineers soon because there is still an ongoing problem with inflow and infiltration, especially in the township.
“It doesn’t take a lot to generate a lot of water,” Balliet noted. He said CMA and the township are supposed to have a plan in place by June to close the SSO.
DEP became an ongoing topic of conversation throughout the meeting. The board heard an update on their insurance, which increased slightly, by $200, due to a “high hazard dam,” notably Montgomery Run Dam.
The information was provided to the insurance company from DEP, resulting in the raise. “This is another favor DEP did for us,” remarked Chairman Russ Triponey.
Later in the meeting, Balliet was asked if CMA would eventually be forced to repair the dam, and Balliet said they would. He said that at every dam meeting GDF has with DEP he is reminded a letter should soon be sent to CMA regarding the dam.
The project would possibly then take two years and CMA will have to find a way to fund the project. A comparison was made by board members between DEP and the “company store” where no one ever seems to get ahead financially because something else is always coming up.
The board is concerned that eventually the authority won’t be able to keep up with the ongoing regulations. Triponey noted that CMA can only affect what they control. “DEP regulations are out of our control,” he said.
During public comment, the board heard from Dennis Parada, who stated that with three rental properties he owns, the water bills showed extreme raises and when he contacted the office he was told that something was running constantly at all three properties.
He said he has checked and there is nothing that could be running and using that much water. Ultimately, he purchased meters off of eBay and informed the board he will be installing them behind CMAs meters to compare readings.
Additionally, he said he received an e-mail telling him the readings have all gone down, and he has not done any repairs. He has talked with neighbors and they haven’t had the same problem, but other landlords he has talked to have.
Manager John Williams explained that the new meters installed are electric and are more sensitive than the old meters. He said the authority will test any meters for $20. If the meter is faulty, the money is refunded to the resident.
Board members also expressed concern over what Parada has experienced and asked him to keep track of his numbers and compare them to CMA’s numbers and report what he finds.