Correspondent
CANTON — Tuesday, Jan. 12, marked the first formal meeting of the Canton Borough Water Authority of the year.
First on the agenda was discussion of the massive rain event the town experienced Christmas eve and Christmas day last month.
Crews were called out both days for different issues. The lake hill lift station malfunctioned and had to be taken out and fixed.
Lift stations are pumped out regularly every six weeks to pump out any garbage collecting in them but this is not always enough, as was the case here where trash plugged the pump.
Also in that time span, the Sewer Plant drywell overflowed with water coming from an old conduit that was not filled in by the crews working on the STP upgrade.
There was no new spending on the Sewer Upgrade Project. To date the Water Authority has spent $11,671,326.97 on the project with $3,281,735.71 coming from grants and $7,256,912.99 in loans from PennVEST.
Regarding the upgrade project, Ryan Machmer reported he had a quote from LIVIC Civil, an engineering firm in the amount of $28,250 for upgrade work on Troy Street. It was not imperative to hire a firm for the work at this time and members suggested Machmer acquire estimates from other engineering firms before they commit to one. As much as 85% of the projects expected cost will be covered by grants.
The topic of leaks is brought up at every meeting, this time with a plan of action. The Water Authority reports pumping 331,000 gallons of water a day for the month of December.
“We are probably losing 65-70% of our water a day,” said Machmer.
Machmer informed those present that he had a letter drafted to disperse to property owners on the eastern edge of the borough letting them know the plant will need to shut down water services for at least 24 hours to help troubleshoot and find potential leaks in that part of the system.
Machmer stated he was largely waiting to work with the school district to do it on a day where school wouldn’t be in session. The proposed shut off would affect few residents, the school, as well as Watson Diesel, PE, and Jon’s Hydraulics. Frank Watson agreed with the approach saying “We’ve got to get aggressive finding these leaks.”
Last but not least, the water authority sold 415,000 gallons of water in December for $4,981. It also received its monthly restitution check of $600 from Brenda Mott for the month of December.
Next meeting is Feb. 9 at the Watson Diesel Municipal Building, the former Dollar General at the corner of West Union Street.