At Tuesday’s meeting, the Bradford Sanitary Authority granted motions related to its ongoing plant upgrade project and heard updates on the stormwater program.
Executive Director Rick Brocius reported that the authority approved the following motions: amendment No. 10 to the Engineering Services Agreement for final design of the Phase III plant upgrades, and to execute a service agreement with the Constructed Wetlands Group, also as part of Phase III.
Constructed Wetlands Group will assist with the reed bed design, construction and startup.
Both motions were approved contingent on the Authority’s acceptance of a PENNVEST Funding offer.
The authority also heard several items related to the stormwater management program, which it recently took over on behalf of Bradford City.
Brocius reported that several appeals and credit applications have been received for the stormwater program, which are under review and processing by BSA staff.
It was also noted that falling leaves present a seasonal challenge that leads to the plugging of stormwater inlets. The authority reminds customers that residential property owners can apply to adopt a storm inlet and keep it free of debris. In so doing, they help reduce the authority’s maintenance costs and will receive a 15 percent credit off their stormwater fee.
Brocius reported that a new stormwater manhole will soon be installed on South Avenue, completing the work to restore 1,600 feet of 20-inch stormwater line to proper operating condition. Line cleaning and condition assessment work is now under way by the BSA field crew in the Elm Street area in anticipation of the Elm Street development projects.
Operations manager Barry Anderson reported that work continues with stormwater customers to identify property parcel locations and ownership to ensure the accuracy of customer bills. About 95 calls have been addressed to date.
Anderson noted that all customer-reported problems and concerns are being logged and will be assessed and prioritized in planning future stormwater work as funds become available.
A proposal was presented to BSA regarding the fixed price purchasing of natural gas. The authority will consider such an agreement if it will lead to reduced utility expenses.
The board discussed the status of accepting production wastewater from local conventional oil production operations. Brocius reported that BSA staff are working with local oil producers and the state Department of Environmental Protection in evaluating new treatment technologies being developed to clean up wastewaters from local oil production operations.
The board agreed that it was very important to note that this project is not addressing the treatment of “frack water” — or wastewaters associated with Marcellus Shale operations — and the authority is not considering accepting any wastewaters from those operations.
Authority staff have participated in meetings and visited two pilot project demonstrations to assess the progress of these new emerging treatment technologies.
Anderson reported that the plant treated 110 million gallons for the month of September, and worked through two smaller rain events. Anderson reported that plant staff would be visiting local industries to perform annual sampling and inspections required by EPA as part of the Authorities Industrial Pretreatment Program.
