The Bradford Sanitary Authority has received a bit of good news
— they’ve been granted permission for 50 hookups to the sewer
system for 2010.

Authority Chairman Dan Hartle explained Monday that he has
received a letter from the state Department of Environmental
Protection granting the year’s allotment of 50 EDUs — equivalency
dwelling units, or sewer hookups. The DEP will only grant a limited
number of sewer hookups until problems with overflows at the sewage
treatment plant are corrected.

The DEP also approved an exception — 22 EDUs for Glendorn.
Hartle said Glendorn’s current system didn’t pass an environmental
test, and the owners of the lodge and retreat sought to hook up to
the Bradford Township sewer system.

“The system out there malfunctioned,” Hartle said. Because they
were approved as an exception, those 22 EDUs do not come out of the
Authority’s annual allotment.

Another exception granted was for the Habitat for Humanity House
being built on Interstate Parkway. Hartle said the DEP granted that
measure as a sewer hookup had been at that property before.

Hartle said the allotment and exceptions were welcome news from
the DEP “because we didn’t have any left.”

He said a few projects had been given conditional approval
pending the DEP releasing the 50 EDUs for the year.

“Now construction can get under way,” he said.

The authority is also moving ahead this week on emergency
repairs to a sewer line along North Kendall Avenue. During last
year’s road construction in that area, a sanitary sewer line
between the railroad tracks and the entrance to American Refining
Group was broken and filled with concrete.

As a result, the sanitary sewer is backing up into homes in the
area. The authority had sent workers to vacuum out the lines in the
problem area, but that was also sending sewage into homes.

As of last week, talks with the Pennsylvania Department of
Transportation and contractors Glenn O. Hawbaker to repair the
broken line had gone nowhere. The authority approved moving ahead
to fix the problem on an emergency basis, and then pursue a legal
action against PennDOT and Hawbaker if necessary.

Hartle said the area of the problem was surveyed last week and
digging will begin this week.

“The sooner the better,” he said. “This is an emergency.”