The Bradford Sanitary Authority is reminding residents of the upcoming backyard conservation rain barrel workshop scheduled for 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday at 410 Seaward Ave.
Adam Causer, watershed specialist for McKean County Conservation District, and Sandy Thompson, district manager, met with the authority in January to set up the workshop.
Danielle Rhea from Penn State University will be presenting the course material on rain barrels, rain gardens and reducing stormwater.
The workshop is limited to the first 30 applicants. Residents attending from the City of Bradford will be provided paperwork in order to apply for stormwater credits once their rain barrels have been put into use. Each submitted application and rain barrel deployment will be field checked to see if residents are eligible for up to a 15% credit on their stormwater fee. There is room for 16 more applicants.
At Tuesday’s meeting, authority members were updated on the continuing issue with the NPDES permit. Essentially, changing pollution regulations from the state Department of Environmental Protection will mean the authority will be in violation. The options are to build more facilities or capacity, or derate the treatment plant capacity.
The DEP is open to the authority weaving the permit renewal application along with a permit amendment application for a possible path to adjusting the limits based on the treatment plant’s demonstrated ability.
Executive Director Steve Disney explained the authority and Gannett Fleming “are beginning the local limits re-evaluation process to comply with the time requirements for those activities.”
Fleming will prepare the sampling plan and submit it to the EPA for approval. When that process has been completed, the revised local limits will be provided to contributing municipalities for adoption.
Disney said the 2021 wasteload management report, and the 2021 Industrial Pretreatment Program have been submitted. The 2021 financial audit has been completed and is available for review at the BSA office.
In his report to the board, Disney said the treatment plant had hosted several events, including a certification, a tour for environmental science majors from Pitt-Bradford and legislators and have a webinar scheduled for April 28 on the reed bed project.
He updated the board on the enviro-mix corrosion issue in the secondary treatment tanks/troughs. The tanks were drained and inspected, and the corrosion appears to be limited to one back header, Disney said.
The next project for the authority is the replacement of worn and poor condition grating throughout the facility.
Field operations included inspection, assessment and cleaning of 297 lineal feet of the sanitary sewer system in the past month, and 1,023 lineal feet of the stormwater system.
