Monitoring equipment will be installed on nearly every source of public drinking water in Potter County no later than mid-July. At Wednesday’s meeting of the Triple Divide Watershed Coalition, chair Charlie Tuttle announced that equipment will be arriving no later than June 19. A representative of Campbell Scientific, the company that supplied the monitors, will be available at 9 am Wednesday, June 21, at the county planning office to meet with operators and discuss the equipment. Shinglehouse Borough is the only TDWC affiliate not participating. Sixteen monitors are available for installation on wells, springs and surface water sources feeding the other 10 public water systems in the county. The monitors will capture and archive data on water temperature, flow, and contents to create a baseline and sound an early warning in the event of contamination. The state’s settlement with JKLM Energy for its 2015 environmental violation at a shale gas drilling site off North Hollow Road has yielded $100,000 for the monitoring systems.
On a related note, coalition members discussed the need to update each system’s certified Sourcewater Protection Zone Plan. Mark Stephens, geologist with the Pa. Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) regional office in Williamsport, said most of the elements in the current plans will not change and updating them should not pose a stiff challenge. Assistance is available through the Potter County Planning/GIS Department and the Pa. Rural Water Assn. Stevens said that the plans will be taking on increased importance when DEP begins to incorporate Sourcewater Protection Zone Plans into the department’s permit review process and other maps/records maintained by the department.
Also at Wednesday’s meeting, TDWC:
- discussed the possibility of sharing the services of certified chief water operators among multiple systems.
- heard that the Pa. Rural Water Assn. is offering free weekly courses (12 weeks) for those seeking to become certified water operators. Discussion was held about holding training classes in Potter County.
- was informed that the federal government’s State Revolving Fund that supports DEP’s assistance to local water systems appears to have strong bipartisan support in Congress.
- discussed the U.S. Geological Survey’s groundwater study in Potter County that is now underway, with about 45 private wells selected for characterization. Similar projects have been completed or are in the works for several other counties in the region.
