WOODLAND – The day after Christmas is a day where people recover from the feast the day before and possibly start planning their New Year’s festivities.
Crews from the Woodland-Bigler Authority spent the day dealing with a 40,000 gallon waste discharge at the Woodland Park Playground.
Area resident Carl Undercofler asked the board what the specifics of the incident were, and why the waste was pumped into a tributary of Roaring Run.
“That’s raw sewerage going into the creek,” said Undercofler, who explained that the water in that tributary will eventually make its way into the Chesapeake Bay.
Dave Stodard, who works with the the authority explained to Undercofler and the board that they received a call on the morning of Dec. 26 about the waste. Stodard said they contacted D.J. Wisor’s people to deal with it.
Stodard said that the authority’s first priority is not to cause liability by backing sewerage into someone’s home. He informed Wisor’s that they needed to bypass pump around the manhole, and that they needed to protect the upstream users.
He went on to explain that Wisor’s did not have the equipment on hand to do the job, and that they were pumping the waste into the tributary. He added that while as uncomfortable as it was for them to pump to alleviate the backup and that while they did not have the equipment to get to the next manhole down the line, he allowed them to continue what they were doing. If they would have waited for the proper equipment to make the trip from Claysburg, crews may have had to have dealt with a bigger area of discharge at the park.
“We did what we had to do,” said Stodard, who described it as a ‘darned if you do, darned if you don’t” situation.
After they alleviated enough waste to get equipment in to take care of the blockage, they discovered they could not reach clear the blockage. Roto-Rooter was called in, and they cleared the blockage.
Stodard said that grease was blocking the pipes, and that in the process of clearing the blockage 30-inch long “shards” of grease were came out.
Undercofler said that while he understood the overflow, he did not find it acceptable, pumping what waste they did into the tributary. Undercofler also said that he would like the area around the discharge to be fenced off.
Stodard and authority members voiced that this incident was the first of its kind to face them.
Stodard said that is an issue that will be taken up with the Bradford Township Supervisors. Stodard said that they will consult with the supervisors as to what action to take as far as clean-up is concerned and how to disinfect the area. He also added that a large amount of wood chips were removed and will be disposed of.
“We will correct as much is as possible,” said Stodard.
“We want to take care of it,” said Stodard. “We have a liability. We have a clean up there that has to be performed.”
Currently, the wood chips that were on the ground have been removed and will be disposed of.
Stodard also said that they contacted their insurance coverage to see what kind of coverage they have for this kind of situation and what steps they need to take next as far as a clean-up is concerned.
The authority is now awaiting word from their insurance company and the Bradford Township Supervisors as far as what action to take next in the clean-up process.
Stodard said in his report that the Department of Environmental Protection was called by the authority, and that DEP is going to issue a notice of violation to the authority and to D.J. Wisor. Stodard said he did not feel that was right.