Apr 9, 2013 3 min read

CARMICHAELS – Carmichaels Municipal Authority will hold a public meeting April 23 to discuss steps it plans to take to prevent the reoccurrence of high levels of trihalomethane forming in its treated water.

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in the Carmichaels Area High School auditorium. Authority engineer Jim Willard, of KLH Engineers, said Monday the meeting agenda would include a slide-show presentation as well as a question-and-answer session.

The water authority had asked KLH to prepare a study on what the authority should do to address problems the authority had in late 2010 and early 2011, when it failed to comply with federal safe drinking water standards for THM.

The study, completed in January, recommends a number of operational adjustments in the authority’s treatment process to reduce THM levels, several of which have already been implemented.

It also recommended several steps that will require large capital expenditures, including installing aeration systems on the authority’s water storage tanks, replacing the filter control system at the plant and installing equipment to allow chlorination of treated water leaving the authority’s tanks.

Willard told the authority board Monday that he is currently preparing cost estimates for the control system and preparing design work for the tank aeration system.

In other business at Monday’s meeting, board chairman Dennis McCann said he had spoken with the authority solicitor regarding Cumberland Township’s determination that the township’s Act 13 drilling impact fee revenue cannot be used to assist the authority in making improvements to the water system.

The authority’s solicitor, he said, could find nothing in the township code that would prohibit the township from assisting the authority with Act 13 money, McCann said. He said he hopes to meet with township solicitor Dennis Makel to discuss what provision of the code Makel referred to in determining the township could not give Act 13 money to the authority.

The authority discussed selling a 300,000 gallon welded steel tank the authority took out of service about five or six years ago near Carmichaels. A neighboring property owner has expressed interest in the property.

The authority agreed to get an appraisal and to prepare an advertisement for the sale of the property and the tank. The authority will retain ownership of three rights of way to the property, which includes one for access and two for existing lines.

Authority manager Lloyd Richard reported the authority should have its consumer confidence report on its Web page soon. The report indicates results of all authority water testing for the year.

The authority has had rely on a consultant to place the report online because Internet service at the authority office is too slow and needs to be upgraded.

The authority received an extension on a $250,000 state H2O grant it is using to construct a new lagoon. The company constructing the lagoon is expected to begin work within the next month, but the grant was set to expire.