Latest news with #Long-TermControlPlan
Chicago Tribune
2 days ago
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Gary Sanitary District hikes rates on neighbors in Hobart, Lake Station, Merrillville
The Gary Sanitary District board approved wastewater user rate increases Friday for the communities of Hobart, Lake Station and the Merrillville Conservancy District. The unanimous 4-0 vote came on the recommendation of GSD executive director Ragen Hatcher, who represents Hobart and Lake Station in the General Assembly, where she holds the District 3 House seat. The resolution states the new rates will be effective Sept. 1. They include a volume charge of $2.82 per thousand gallons of wastewater discharged and a monitoring fee of $1,844 per month. There could be additional fees if discharges exceed levels of ammonia, phosphorus, carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand, or total suspended solids. Hobart Mayor Josh Huddlestun urged the board to negotiate with the communities. 'The city of Hobart is not opposed to a rate increase; we're simply asking for a good faith negotiation… we understand everything is going up,' Huddlestun said. He urged the board to decline or table the rate increase resolution. Hatcher said its Indianapolis-based legal counsel, Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, recommended the user fee rate increase based on direction from the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 'We are under a requirement of the DOJ to make these changes to our rates,' Hatcher told the board. Hatcher said the rate increase would go to support the long-term control plan for combined sewer overflows. Gary has been under a federal consent decree for decades because of past overflows polluting streams, rivers and Lake Michigan. In a statement released Tuesday, GSD officials said its consent decree calls for $155 million in sewer system improvements over the next 15 years — nearly $12 million annually. 'This rate adjustment is one of several actions required by federal regulators as part of the Long-Term Control Plan,' the statement said. On Jan 15, the GSD and the city of Gary filed a federal lawsuit against Hobart, Lake Station and the Merrillville Conservancy District seeking a declaratory judgment to pave the way to raise user rate fees for treating their wastewater. That case is still pending in federal court. The two sides had been in negotiations for months. The user communities hired Indianapolis law firm Dentons Bingham Greenbaum LLP to negotiate and propose a settlement on their behalf. Gary responded with the federal lawsuit in January, contending the user rates for the three communities are decades old and too low to meet the requirements of a federal consent decree. The GSD first entered a wastewater treatment agreement with Lake Station in 1982. The complaint said the agreement expired in 2002, and GSD continued to provide treatment services under an implied fact contract at the 1982 rate. Hobart entered a contract with GSD in 1984 and GSD signed a pact with the MCD in 1995.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Part of Green Ridge Street in Scranton to close for sewer tank project
Pennsylvania American Water will close to traffic part of Green Ridge Street in Scranton near Green Ridge Plaza during the next two weeks for work on a sewer/stormwater overflow tank under construction at the plaza, the company announced Thursday. The tank will reduce pollution into the Lackawanna River by 8 million gallons a year, or a 90% decrease, from what's called combined sewer overflows of wastewater and stormwater that occur during heavy rain. The tank project will require road closure and detours: • Both lanes of Green Ridge Street, between Albright Avenue and Ross Street, or between 120 and 220 Green Ridge Street, will close to traffic next week from Monday through Friday. • Single-lane closures then will occur the following week, from April 14 through 18. • The road closures will remain in place outside of project work hours. The work is part of a $15 million infrastructure upgrade that includes the construction of a new 780,000-gallon storage tank under construction at Green Ridge Plaza, as well as new valves, manholes and flow meters. The tank is part of the Scranton Wastewater System Long-Term Control Plan to reduce overflow events from the system that, when built many decades ago, combined wastewater and stormwater flows. The water company in late 2016 bought the Scranton Sewer Authority system serving Scranton and Dunmore and inherited federally mandated improvements to control and reduce the combined wastewater and stormwater flows from entering the Lackawanna River. 'The Long-Term Control Plan, which Pennsylvania American Water assumed as part of the acquisition, is designed to reduce the amount of overflows during rain events,' PAW Senior Project Engineer Matt Griffith said in the announcement of road closures. 'With this new storage tank, combined wastewater discharge into the Lackawanna River from the surrounding area will be significantly reduced by over 90%, which is a reduction of over 8 million gallons of discharge into the river during a typical year.' The tank project began in March 2024 and is part of a $189 million investment in the Scranton wastewater system to improve service and protect local waterways, the company said.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Green Ridge Street to close for water main relocation
SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — Pennsylvania American Water announced that Green Ridge Street in Scranton will be closed next week due to a water main relocation. Beginning Monday, April 7, through Friday, April 11, Green Ridge Street between Albright Avenue and Ross Street will be closed. The following week, there will be single lane closures from Monday, April 14, until Friday, April 18, on Green Ridge Street. The road will remain closed outside of work hours. Opening day of trout season this Saturday 'The Long-Term Control Plan, which Pennsylvania American Water assumed as part of the acquisition, is designed to reduce the amount of overflows during rain events,' said Matt Griffith, senior project engineer, Pennsylvania American Water. 'With this new storage tank, combined wastewater discharge into the Lackawanna River from the surrounding area will be significantly reduced by over 90%, which is a reduction of over 8 million gallons of discharge into the river during a typical year.' The work is part of a $15 million wastewater storage system project that includes a 780,000-gallon storage facility that is under construction in the Green Ridge Plaza. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
