CLEARFIELD – The Clearfield Municipal Authority again discussed the sanitary sewer overflow in Hyde and the possibility of taking over the sewer lines for the township at Tuesday’s meeting.
Lawrence Township recently sent a letter to CMA asking the authority to take over the lines. While CMA is willing, they need to do due diligence, which requires research, talking with the township and the state Department of Environmental Protection and other work.
So far DEP has indicated they are in favor of CMA taking over the township’s sewer lines, but they would also like CMA to look into taking over Clearfield Borough’s lines as well.
If they were able to reach agreements with both entities, Engineer Jim Balliet said it is likely they would receive an extension to get both the sanitary and combined sewer overflows closed.
Chairman Russ Triponey said DEP has wanted CMA to take over the entire system for years and Balliet agreed, adding that DEP prefers regionalized systems, which are more efficient to run.
CMA authorized solicitor John Ryan to send a letter to Clearfield Borough to inquire if the borough would be interested in turning over their sewer lines to CMA.
Meanwhile, the SSO in Hyde has not been closed and currently the authority and township face fines of up to $10,000 each day it is opened. Fortunately, the SSO did not have to be opened in September.
The authority also needs to submit a plan to close the CSO near Buck’s Pizza by Oct. 31, to be implemented by 2024.
The options include not closing it at all, reducing inflow and infiltration so it wouldn’t have to be closed, upgrading the current pump station or building a new wet-weather pump station.
CMA also submitted a closure plan for the Hyde SSO and responded to several comments from DEP requesting clarification, but DEP has not approved or declined the plan yet.
The board also learned that Manager John Williams is looking into purchasing inline flow meters to help track down unaccounted water loss.
He said they would need about two or three meters and they would help the authority track down where there are leaks in large areas. Right now, he is waiting on pricing from the company he talked to.
Work on the Pine Grove North water main extension is progressing and DEP has approved CMA’s engineering firm, Gwin, Dobson & Foreman, to begin survey and design work for additional areas that could be included in the project.
After a brief executive session, the board, after reviewing Williams’ annual review, approved a 2.5 percent pay increase plus an additional $1,000 for achievement of his wastewater certification, retroactive to July.
