ASHLAND - The Ashland Area Municipal Authority is still waiting for the state permit to upgrade its reservoir, with the authority now hoping that July will be the month for the approval.
Jennifer M. Kowalonek, project manager with Alfred Benesch and Co., gave her engineer's report Monday during the authority's meeting.
"We received an email from Mr. (Kirk) Kreider on Friday on the status and that he was looking at the paperwork that day and would be looking at it this week," Kowalonek said.
Kreider is a civil engineer manager in the Susquehanna Watershed Section of the state Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Dam Safety.
"We email DEP two weeks before and we were third in line for the review on that gentleman's desk, and apparently we're now at the top of the list," Kowalonek said. "Hopefully, we should have some answers shortly."
According to the written report of Benesch senior designer Natalie L. O'Connor, engineer in training, to the authority board, "The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has informed us that the review is complete and all comments are adequately addressed. Since there were so many revisions over the last several years, DEP is going to confirm that all comments and changes have been incorporated in the latest set of drawings and specifications that were sent in to their office prior to the permit issuance."
The planning for the project began about five years ago, and since that time, O'Connor, Kowalonek and other Benesch engineers have responded to written reviews on various aspects of the project, followed by plan revisions to meet the engineering requirements as presented by DEP.
The authority is planning DEP-mandated improvements at its reservoir in Butler Township that will raise the crest of the reservoir by six feet above its current height. The improvement will allow the reservoir to hold more than its current capacity of 110 million gallons during major storm events. The increased height will permit large amounts of stormwater to leave the reservoir in a more controlled fashion through the spillway instead of flowing over the dam crest, thereby increasing safety for areas below the reservoir.
The authority is also planning an upstream closure project at the dam in response to another DEP mandate.
Once the project is approved, the next step for the authority is to secure funding from the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority. The application cutoff dates for PENNVEST are Aug. 20 for the October meeting and Nov. 12 for the January meeting. When the permit is received, the authority will need to move forward with the funding application process prior to the bidding. The estimated cost of the entire project is about $2 million.
Kowalonek has received questions about the final review stage, including the status of the emergency action plan.
"I explained to them we couldn't do an emergency action plan without an approved permit since we don't know what they're going to approve," Kowalonek said. "We're not going to waste our time to do the plan. We hope they approve it as it is, but if they change something, we don't want to waste your time and money for us to do that."
In other business, borough Manager Ray Jones Jr. updated the board on overfilling problems at the water storage tank.
"We had a valve expert from LB Water here and found out that a check valve is leaking at the fill line," Jones said.
Jones said that two gate valves, which are as old as the tank, are also malfunctioning. He said the cost to replace the valves would be about $5,800. To replace the valves, it would be necessary to drain the one-million-gallon tank, which would take about three days.
The board approved the repairs.