The Bradford Sanitary Authority is submitting an exception to
allocated equivalency dwelling units under a consent order and
agreement to the Department of Environmental Protection agency for
the Onofrio Street Revitalization project.

At the authority’s meeting Tuesday, Chairman Daniel Hartle said
the authority had to approve the exemptions on the project before
submitting it to the DEP. The board formally accepted the exemption
and will request the exception on behalf of the Office of Economic
and Community Development.

“The authority decided it didn’t want to take out of the 85 EDUs
allocated to the area” through 2008 by the DEP consent order,
engineer Jack Rae said.

Rae explained that the OECD planned to replace 14 EDUs with 13
EDUs in the project, and under the consent order and agreement, the
authority can get an exception to the allocated EDUs if a building
is torn down and a new structure is built on the same lot, merely
replacing the EDUs and not adding to the flow of the system.

Rae also explained that single EDUs issued do not require DEP
planning approval but must be reported in the authority’s annual
report. He said two or more EDUs require the authority’s capacity
letter and planning module approval.

Rae also outlined certain deadlines the authority must meet
under the DEP’s final consent order, which was issued on May
21.

He pointed out that by July 20, the municipalities outlined in
the consent order, including Bradford City, Bradford Township,
Foster Township, Lafayette Township and Lewis Run, must submit flow
monitoring data and 10-year flow projection data to the authority.
He noted that Bradford Township already submitted those.

Rae also noted that within 300 days – by March 20 next year –
the municipalities must submit draft Act 537 Plan updates to the
DEP and the authority. He said before they can do so, the draft
must be submitted to planning agencies for 60 days to comment and
advertised for a 30-day public comment period. He said the
responses must then be addressed.

Rae said everyone named under the consent order must submit
semi-annual status reports to the DEP until Dec. 31, 2013, when the
authority and municipalities must complete all the projects to
eliminate all overflows.

Rae said starting in 2009, the authority may request up to 50
EDUs per year as part of its annual report. The DEP may rescind EDU
allocations if the authority and/or the municipalities are in
violation of any term or condition of the consent order and
agreement.

Rae said since all the EDUs were allocated to the authority, it
will affect the entire authority’s allocation of EDUs.

“We’re going to have to be vigilant then,” solicitor Richard
Mutzabaugh said.

Rae also reported on the Industrial Pretreatment Plan Review,
saying they were waiting for the samples from a number of
industrial users. He said Calgon, Dresser Manufacturing and
Keystone Powdered Metal need industrial discharge permits
issued.

Rae also reported that NEM ceased discharging for a while due to
a pump failure then began again after it was fixed. He said now
there’s another problem. He said they were visited in May, but the
system was not operating.

Rae said there was a problem with copper in the sampling for
Schlumberger Well Services in Bradford Township. He said they may
have to test the city water for copper in the piping system since
he said all they do at the site is wash trucks. He said three more
successful samplings will have to be done at the site.

Mutzabaugh said some substantial money was collected for some
large accounts. Other members of the board said it would be good
for people to know that if they’re delinquent on their sewer bill,
the water to their residence can be cut off whether or not the
water was paid up or not.