While still dealing with red tape from a 2018 Department of Environmental Protection permit issue, Bradford Sanitary Authority is gearing up for the 2024 permit to start all over again.
A local limits evaluation, relating to pollutants coming into the plant from non-residential dischargers like industries, was delayed for the 2018 permit pending completion of plant upgrades. The Environmental Protection Agency has jurisdiction over local limits.
While the DEP has yet to issue a 2024 permit, Authority Executive Director Steve Disney said, “Criteria used to establish the local limits is in compliance with current NPDES permit requirements. BSA is awaiting the renewed NPDES permit, once that is received an updated local limits evaluation can be conducted.”
In other matters, Disney said Verizon is still looking to put a cellular communications tower on authority land.
“Verizon engineers have moved the proposed location to the northwest side of the BSA lands and are in agreement this is the most suitable location.”
An annual independent audit of the Bradford Sanitary Authority’s records and financial statements is underway, with auditors Buffamante, Whipple and Buttafaro of Orchard Park, N.Y.
The authority participated in a cyber security vulnerability assessment conducted by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a federal department. A final assessment summary was issued and reviewed by the authority.
Disney said, “The authority is vigilant in taking advantage of any training associated with cybersecurity and takes this risk very seriously.”
The authority has registered for the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Water Sector Cybersecurity Drill: A Day without SCADA, set for Feb. 29. Disney explained, “SCADA is the acronym for Supervised Control and Data Acquisition and is used at the wastewater and water treatment plants. Operators and staff from both Wastewater and Water will participate.”
While both the water and sanitary authorities have been vigilant with safety measures, a hacktivist attack on Aliquippa’s water operations in November brought the issue to the public’s eye. At the time, Disney assured, “Both authorities take protecting our critical infrastructures very seriously and have made significant investments over the last several years on hardware and software upgrades as well as continuous firewall and security patches to combat potential threats and attacks.”
Further, he explained the Bradford City Water Authority and Bradford Sanitary Authority enforce proper cybersecurity practices such as multi-factor authentication (MFA), network monitoring, requirements for password complexity, local and off-site backups and quarterly training for employees.
Also at the meeting, Disney reported that the PA Rural Water/Wastewater Association Conference will be held in State College from March 18 to 22. The authority plans to send Jake Johnson and Justin Grice, who will also take the General and Activated Sludge Exam at the end of the conference.
Giving an update on operations, Disney explained operators have been painting in headworks 1 north, the CAS blower building and the west tunnel areas. As for the problems with the roof on the digester, Disney said, “Advanced Technology is looking into the uneven surface application to determine potential remedies. The contractor believes they received a bad batch of product. They are researching possible solutions.”
For delinquencies, he said overall stormwater and sanitary sewer delinquencies remained steady. A sheriff’s sale will be scheduled for Moosewatch Development on Congress Street and Marsh’s Bar on West Washington Street.
