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Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority officials want to make it clear they have not approved alterations in the giant Toby Creek detention basin that are a major component of the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority’s new stormwater fee pollution reduction plan.
Located off Division Street in Pringle, the basin is part of the 16-mile Wyoming Valley Levee system along the Susquehanna River maintained and operated by the flood authority with levee fee revenue.
Flood authority Executive Director Christopher Belleman and authority board Chairman Kevin O’Brien said they wouldn’t consider a formal agreement with the sanitary authority until the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completes a technical review. To date, no technical review has been performed by the Army Corps, they said.
The men said levee fee payers have been inquiring about the basin plan, and they stressed they won’t agree to any basin work — including future maintenance — that increases flood authority expenses.
“We have a very nice working relationship with the sanitary authority and don’t want to strain it, but we’re responsible to 14,000 property owners who pay the levee fee and think it’s important to provide them with factual information on events that affect the flood protection system,” Belleman said.
Sanitary Authority Executive Director James Tomaine said his authority did not yet seek Army Corps approval because the basin concept must first be approved by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which is still performing its review. It wouldn’t make sense to spend time and money on the Army Corps approval if DEP doesn’t clear the idea, he said, emphasizing his authority has described the basin work and other suggested pollution reduction projects as “proposed.”
The basin holds water that drains from 30 square miles in the Back Mountain to prevent flooding in Pringle, Kingston and other municipalities on lower ground.
As part of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency mandate, DEP is requiring municipalities to reduce the quantity of sediment, nitrogen and phosphorus washed into the Susquehanna and other waterways that feed into the Chesapeake Bay.
Officials in 32 Wyoming Valley area municipalities determined it would be more cost efficient to participate in a regional compliance plan handled by the sanitary authority. Municipalities face fines if they don’t comply with the federal requirements, which include detailed maps of all stormwater systems and annual progress reports, sanitary authority officials have said.
The owners of 80,408 parcels in the 32 municipalities recently received advance billing notices on the new stormwater fee that will take effect Jan. 1.
The Toby basin is part of a $33 million proposed sanitary authority package that also includes stream bank restoration along Solomon Creek on the east side of the river and enhancements at a Plymouth detention basin, Abrahams Creek near the county recreational complex in Forty Fort, and another water collection area in Hanover Township.
The sanitary authority wants to make the water flow path more meandering inside the Toby basin to slow it down and reduce the amount of sediment ending up in the Susquehanna. Deep-rooted shrubs also would be planted on the basin floor to soak up nitrogen and phosphorus.
The basin work would fulfill an estimated 70 percent of the sediment reduction requirement, sanitary authority officials have said.
If the basin portion is not approved by DEP — or the Army Corps and flood authority — the sanitary authority will identify other projects to meet the mandate, Tomaine said.
Tomaine said his authority has not publicly briefed the flood authority on the status of its plans since its initial presentation in April 2017 because the basin proposal is still in the “very preliminary design stage” and awaiting DEP approval.
“We value their relationship and understand the procedures and plan to work through them,” Tomaine said of the flood authority. “We feel in the long run this could be a benefit for both stormwater and levee customers.”
But O’Brien said he still has “a lot of questions” about how the basin proposal would affect the levee system, which is highly regulated to ensure it meets certification.
At the April 2017 meeting, the flood authority voted to agree in principal to the execution of an intergovernmental cooperation agreement between the two authorities for the basin project, pending approval by the Army Corps. However, it also voted to table the sanitary authority’s request to approve a resolution authorizing the intergovernmental agreement.
Belleman said the sewer authority website describes the flood authority as a “strategic partner” collaborating on an opportunity to treat stormwater runoff in a centralized location to yield cost savings.
“Some of my board members are concerned that until something is in place, they shouldn’t be mentioning us as a strategic partner,” Belleman said. “It’s not that they’re necessarily opposed, but the sewer authority should not talk about it unless it’s a done deal.”
Installed in the 1930s or ’40s, the Toby basin is a dam because it retains water if the Susquehanna rises, Belleman said. Water in the basin is released through an underground conduit that is 60 feet in diameter and discharges at the authority’s Woodward Pump Station in Edwardsville.
“Without that basin, Toby Creek would meander through the streets of Kingston and Edwardsville, and you’d have pretty frequent flooding,” Belleman said.