Coaldale Borough Council met with legislative representatives Tuesday to discuss the borough’s sewer system and potential repairs and upgrades ordered by the Department of Environmental Protection.

In January, the water in the Panther Creek; and, in turn, the Little Schuylkill River in Tamaqua, turned bright orange. A DEP study indicated that the orange water, which was expelled by the Foster Tunnel at the mine, caused the discoloration. The storm and sewage water overflows are what cause the high pH levels in the water during storms.

The basic problem is that sewage water and storm drainage water are mixing together; when a storm happens, the resulting overflow of water causes the high pH levels and other environmental issues with the rivers. Problems that start in Schuylkill County then work their way down the rivers to other communities, affecting water in their areas as well.

“From a DEP standpoint,” Christine Verdier, chief of staff for Sen. David G. Argall, said, “that’s where they’re pointing us, and that’s how they directed us, back to the Coaldale Lansford Summit Hill Sewer Authority.”

Verdier, Michael Shay from Congressman Dan Meuser’s office; and Lauren A. Miller for state Rep. Jerry Knowles, were at the meeting to help the borough find funding.

During normal levels, despite the orange color, pH levels are relatively normal. The overall issues related to the stream are coming from the sewage overflow when there are high storm events.

Verdier indicated that things got a bit more complicated when they discovered that the Sewer Authority does not actually own the sewer pipes within Coaldale borough limits. The borough owns them. That places the responsibility of repairs to the sewer system on the borough.

“When we started, we assumed the authority owned both the piping and the plants. More meetings have been held to determine who is responsible for what, and how can we help those responsible partners figure out a plan moving forward.”

Finding funding

The Sewer Authority is in the process of starting an Act 537 plan, and is doing flow studies to determine stormwater versus sewage water, and where the connections are.

“If the flow study says that there are sections of Coaldale that need to be separated,” Verdier explained, “we can then take that information and go out and look for funding for you that your engineers can apply for. We want to be a partner and help.”

The original goal was to find funding for pipe upgrades and plant operations upgrades; however, then it was realized that there is not even a plan to get to that point.

“The authority is not far enough along in their Act 537 plan to really start applying for the big dollar grant dollars,” Verdier explained. “One thing possible is the federal money received through the stimulus package.”

The U.S. Treasury has been updating its website on how municipalities can use those funds. The three main areas where they can be used are water, sewer and broadband. Because Coaldale owns the piping of the sewer system, they may be able to use some of those funds for the work.

Verdier suggested that the borough could consider working with Mike Shay, the borough engineers and the sewer authority engineers, and maybe tackle some of those areas that need work to separate stormwater from sewer water, and maybe start making an impact on some of the areas that are overflowing right now that are causing some of the downstream issues. Another possibility is applying for the “DEP Growing Greener” grant.

“Our job is to try and find those dollars for you,” Verdier pointed out, “but, we need you to also be that partner. We wanted to make sure we are having a conversation with you. We were initially thinking like grants from PENNVEST and USDA for the big dollars, but they do construction. We’re still in a planning stage, not even in a design to get to the construction phase yet.”

“Are there grants for the design and planning stages?” borough solicitor Robert Yurchak asked.

“No,” Verdier responded, “and that’s what we’re struggling with, and that’s why we want to at least get our engineers together to talk and determine if this is the best way to finish the plan and the process for the Act 537 plan. Maybe the borough engineer can meet with authority engineer and DEP to brainstorm ideas on how to continue to move the process forward to avoid receiving notices of violations from the DEP.”