DELAWARE RIVER BASIN PUBLIC HEARING
Thursday, July 28, 2016
Delaware River near Worthington State Park (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The next public hearing of the Delaware River Basin Commission will take place on Wednesday, August 10, 2016, and will be held at the Washington Crossing Historic Park Visitor Center, 1112 River Road, Washington Crossing, Pa.
The next business meeting of the Delaware River Basin Commission will take place on Wednesday, September 14, 2016, and will be held at the Historic Hotel Bethlehem, 437 Main Street, Bethlehem, Pa.
Both the public hearing and business meeting are open to the public.
DRBC Public Hearing: Wednesday, August 10, 2016, 1:30 PM
The public hearing on August 10, 2016 will begin at 1:30 p.m. Hearing items will include draft dockets (linked below; all pdfs) for the withdrawals, discharges, and other water-related projects subject to the Commission’s review.
Written comments on matters scheduled for hearing on August 10 will be accepted through 5:00 p.m. on August 11. After the hearing on all scheduled matters has been completed, and as time allows, an opportunity for Open Public Comment will also be provided.
The public is advised to check the Commission’s web site periodically prior to the hearing date, as items scheduled for hearing may be postponed if additional time is deemed necessary to complete the Commission’s review, and items may be added up to ten days prior to the hearing date. In reviewing docket descriptions, the public is also asked to be aware that project details commonly change in the course of the Commission’s review, which is ongoing.
View docket location map (coming soon).
- Pennsylvania American Water Company, D-1966-100 CP-2. An application to renew the approval of an existing surface water withdrawal (SWWD) and approve an allocation of up to 540 million gallons per month (mgm) to supply the applicant's public water supply from an exisiting surface water intake on the Schuylkill River. The project intake is located in the Schuylkill River Watershed in the Borough of Norristown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. View draft docket.
- Paulsboro Refining Company, LLC, D-1969-195-3. An application to renew the approval of the existing Paulsboro Refining Company industrial wastewater treatment plant (IWTP), formerly known as the Valero Refining Company IWTP, and its discharge. The IWTP has an average annual design flow of 9.19 million gallons per day (mgd) and a hydraulic design capacity of 15.84 mgd. The IWTP will continue to discharge treated industrial wastewater effluent to Water Quality Zone 4 of the Delaware River at River Mile 87.7, in the Borough of Paulsboro, Gloucester County, New Jersey. View draft docket.
- Saputo Dairy Foods USA, LLC, D-1972-146-2. An application to approve a change in ownership of a previously approved groundwater supply project and to renew the approval of an allocation of up to 29 mgm from existing Wells Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 for industrial cooling, industrial processes and potable supply at an existing dairy processing manufacturing facility now owned by the applicant. The wells are completed in unconsolidated sand and gravel in the West Branch Delaware River Watershed in the Town of Delhi, Delaware County, New York within the drainage area of the section of the main stem Delaware River known as the Upper Delaware, which the Commission has classified as Special Protection Waters. View draft docket.
- Boyertown Borough, D-1973-199 CP-4. An application to renew the approval of the applicant's existing 0.75 mgd wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and its discharge. The WWTP will continue to discharge to Swamp Creek, which is a tributary of Perkiomen Creek, which is a tributary of the Schuylkill River, River Mile 92.47 - 32.3 - 12.9 - 11.9 (Delaware River - Schuylkill River - Perkiomen Creek - Swamp Creek) in Douglass Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. View draft docket.
- Ambler Borough, D-1975-016 CP-4. An application to renew the approval of the applicant's existing 8.0 mgd WWTP and its discharge. The WWTP has an average annual flow of 6.5 mgd. The WWTP will continue to discharge treated effluent to Wissahickon Creek, which is a tributary of the Schuylkill River, at River Mile 92.5 - 12.8 - 12.7 (Delaware River - Schuylkill River - Wissahickon Creek) via Outfall No. 001 in Upper Dublin Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. View draft docket.
- Calpine Corporation, D-1981-020 CP-2. An application to renew the approval of the existing discharge of up to 870.2 mgd of non-cooling contact water (NCCW), intake screen backwash, and boiler and cooling tower blowdown from the docket holder's Edgemoor Energy Center and Hay Road Energy Center power generation facilities. The 710-megawatt Edgemoor Energy Center is fueled by natural gas or oil and consists of three boiler/turbine units. The 1,100-megawatt Hay Road Energy Center facility is fueled by natural gas and consists of six combustion turbines and heat recovery steam generating units and two steam turbine units. The facilities will continue to discharge via three existing outfalls to Water Quality Zone 5 of the Delaware River at River Mile 72.8, in the City of Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware. View draft docket.
- Paunnacussing Founders, Inc., D-1996-042-3. An application to renew the approval of an existing groundwater and surface water withdrawal of up to 6.2 mgm to irrigate the applicant's Lookaway Golf Course from existing Wells Nos. PW-2 and PW-3 and an existing, off-stream constructed pond. Wells Nos. PW-2 and PW-3 are completed in the Brunswick Formation. The requested allocation is not an increase from the previous allocation. The project is located in the Commission's designated Ground Water Protected Area (GWPA) in the Mill Creek Watershed in Buckingham Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. View draft docket.
- Easton Suburban Water Authority, D-1999-062 CP-2. An application to renew the approval of an existing surface water withdrawal to supply the applicant's public water supply distribution system and to approve a decrease in withdrawal allocation from 13.0 mgd (403 mgm) to 10.42 mgd (323 mgm) from an existing intake on the Delaware River. The requested allocation is not an increase from the previous allocation. The project is located in the Delaware River Watershed in the City of Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania within the drainage area of the section of the main stem Delaware River known as the Lower Delaware, which the Commission has classified as Special Protection Waters. View draft docket.
- Calpine Corporation, D-2000-012 CP-2. An application to renew the approval to withdraw up to 8,763.7 mgm of surface water from the Pumphouse 2 Intake and up to 18,404.7 mgm of surface water from the Pumphouse 3 Intake from the Delaware River (total combined allocation of 27,168.4 mgm) for non-contact cooling, cooling tower makeup, fire suppression and intake screen backwashing at the existing Edge Moor and Hay Road Energy Centers. The allocation provided by this docket is based on the maximum water demands of the facility with all circulating, service water, fire suppression and intake screen backwash pumps in operation and represents a decrease from the allocation of 34,100 mgm (33,000 million gallons per 30 days) approved in the previous docket. This docket also updates project information and consolidates several previous DRBC approvals into a single docket. The facility is located in the City of Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware, and the intakes withdraw water at approximately River Mile 72.1 in Delaware River Water Quality Zone 5. View draft docket.
- Upper Hanover Authority, D-2001-061 CP-4. An application to renew the approval of the applicant’s existing 0.4 mgd WWTP and its discharge. The WWTP will continue to discharge to Macoby Creek at River Mile 92.47 - 32.3 - 19.5 - 5.3 (Delaware River - Schuylkill River - Perkiomen Creek - Macoby Creek) located in Upper Hanover Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. View draft docket.
- Aqua Pennsylvania Wastewater, Inc., D-2002-042-4. An application to renew the approval of the applicant's existing 0.6 mgd White Haven WWTP and its discharge. The WWTP will continue to discharge treated wastewater effluent to the Lehigh River at River Mile 183.7 - 71.9 (Delaware River - Lehigh River) within the drainage area of the section of the main stem Delaware River known as the Lower Delaware, which the Commission has classified as Special Protection Waters, in White Haven Borough, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. View draft docket.
- Artesian Water Company, D-2003-022 CP-4. An application to renew the approval of an existing import project of up to 0.369 mgd from the Chesapeake Bay Basin from the Choptank and Bethel Church Wellfields to supply water to the applicant's public water supply system. The application also requested to renew the approval to withdraw up to 158.1 mgm of groundwater from 26 groundwater sources. The requested allocation is not an increase from the previous allocation. The project's existing groundwater withdrawals are approved by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) and will continue to be regulated by DNREC in accordance with the Administrative Agreement (AA) between the Commission and the State of Delaware. The water supply system and wellfields are located in New Castle County, Delaware. View draft docket.
- Aqua Pennsylvania, Inc., D-2003-033 CP-2. An application to renew the approval of an existing groundwater withdrawal (GWD) of up to 24.13 mgm from 14 existing wells including one replacement well and up to 15.5 mgm of water from an existing interconnection with Downingtown Municipal Water Authority for continued use in the docket holder’s interconnected UGS North and Honey Brook public water systems. This docket consolidates and combines the total allocations contained in two separate DRBC approvals issued for the two systems with no increase in the total allocations previously approved by these dockets. The wells are completed in felsic gneiss, intermediate gneiss and graphitic gneiss within the West Branch Brandywine and East Branch Brandywine watersheds, in East Brandywine, West Brandywine and Honey Brook townships, Chester County, Pennsylvania. View draft docket.
- Buck Hill Falls Company, D-2009-001 CP-3. An application to renew the approval of the applicant's existing 0.20 mgd WWTP and its discharge. Treated effluent will continue to be discharged to Buck Hill Creek at River Mile 213.00 - 21.11 - 0.50 (Delaware River - Brodhead Creek - Buck Hill Creek) within the drainage area of the section of the main stem Delaware River known as the Middle Delaware, which the Commission has classified as Special Protection Waters, in Barrett Township, Monroe County, Pennsylvania. View draft docket.
- Wallenpaupack School District, D-2009-026 CP-3. An application to renew the approval of the existing 0.04 mgd Wallenpaupack Area School District High School WWTP and its discharge. The WWTP will continue to discharge to Lake Wallenpaupack on the Wallenpaupack Creek, which is a tributary of the Lackawaxen River, at River Mile 277.7 - 15.8 - 1.4 - 0.2 (Delaware River - Lackawaxen River - Wallenpaupack Creek - Lake Wallenpaupack) within the drainage area of the section of the main stem Delaware River known as the Upper Delaware, which the Commission has classified as Special Protection Waters, located in Palmyra Township, Pike County, Pennsylvania. View draft docket.
- Tobyhanna Army Depot, D-1987-057 CP-4. An application to approve new Wells 7, 8, 9 and 10 for inclusion in the applicant's public water supply system and to renew the approval of an existing GWD of up to 20.66 mgm from four new and two existing wells. The new wells will be replacing Wells 1, 3, 4 and 5, which were previously approved to supply groundwater to the applicant's system. The requested allocation is not an increase from the previous allocation. The project wells are located in the Poplar Gap Member of the Catskill Formation in the Tobyhanna Creek Watershed, within the drainage area of the section of the main stem Delaware River known as the Lower Delaware, which the Commission has classified as Special Protection Waters, in Coolbaugh Township, Monroe County, Pennsylvania. View draft docket.
- Giorgio Foods, Inc., D-1988-043-5. An application to upgrade the docket holder's existing 0.5 mgd IWTP, consisting of replacing the existing sand filter with new cloth media filters and the existing chlorination/dechlorination disinfection system with ultraviolet (UV) light disinfection. The IWTP will remain at 0.50 mgd and continue to discharge treated effluent to Willow Creek, a tributary of Maiden Creek, which is a tributary of the Schuylkill River, at River Mile 92.47 - 86.7 - 0.6 - 2.4 - 0.6 (Delaware River -Schuylkill River - Maiden Creek - Willow Creek) in Maidencreek Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania. View draft docket.
- Johnson Matthey, Inc., D-1999-038-4. An application to renew approval of the applicant's existing 0.08 mgd IWTP and its discharge. The applicant also renewed a total dissolved solids determination and IWTP effluent limit of 20,000 milligrams per liter (mg/l) (monthly average) and 40,000 mg/l (daily maximum). The project IWTP will continue to discharge to the Schuylkill River via the Matsunk Creek culvert at River Mile 92.47 - 21.5 (Delaware River - Schuylkill River) in Upper Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. View draft docket.
- ABB, Inc., D-1986-069-2. An application for approval of the discharge of remediation water from the existing 0.108 mgd groundwater treatment plant (GTP), as well as the withdrawal of up to 3.348 mgm of groundwater from existing Wells Nos. W-1, W-2 and W-7. The project wells are completed in the Stockton Formation. The GTP discharges to an unamed tributary (UNT) of the Pennypack Creek via Outfall No. 1 at River Mile 109.75 - 19.7 - 1.8 (Delaware River - Pennypack Creek - UNT of the Pennypack Creek). The facility is located in the Commission's designated GWPA in the Pennypack Creek Watershed in Warminster Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. View draft docket.
DRBC Business Meeting: Wednesday, September 14, 2016, 10:30 AM
The public business meeting on September 14, 2016 will begin at 10:30 a.m. and will include: adoption of the Minutes of the Commission’s June 15, 2016 business meeting, announcements of upcoming meetings and events, a report on hydrologic conditions, reports by the Executive Director and the Commission’s General Counsel, and consideration of any items for which a hearing has been completed or is not required.
After all scheduled business has been completed and as time allows, the meeting will also include up to one hour of Open Public Comment.
There will be no opportunity for additional public comment for the record at the September 14 business meeting on items for which a hearing was completed on August 10 or a previous date. Commission consideration on September 14 of items for which the public hearing is closed may result in approval of the item (by docket or resolution) as proposed, approval with changes, denial, or deferral. When the Commissioners defer an action, they may announce an additional period for written comment on the item, with or without an additional hearing date, or they may take additional time to consider the input they have already received without requesting further public input. Any deferred items will be considered for action at a public meeting of the Commission on a future date.
Advance Sign-Up for Oral Comment. Individuals who wish to comment on the record during the public hearing on August 10 or to address the Commissioners informally during the Open Public Comment portion of the meeting on either August 10 or September 14 as time allows, are asked to sign up in advance by contacting Ms. Paula Schmitt of the Commission staff, at [email protected].
Addresses for Written Comment. Written comment on items scheduled for hearing may be delivered by hand at the public hearing or: by hand, U.S. Mail or private carrier to: Commission Secretary, P.O. Box 7360, 25 State Police Drive, West Trenton, NJ 08628; by fax to Commission Secretary, DRBC at 609-883-9522; or by email (preferred) to [email protected]. If submitted by email, written comments on a docket should also be sent to Mr. David Kovach, Manager, Project Review Section at [email protected].
Accommodations for Special Needs. Individuals in need of an accommodation as provided for in the Americans with Disabilities Act who wish to attend the informational meeting, conference session or hearings should contact the Commission Secretary directly at 609-883-9500 ext. 203 or through the Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS) at 711, to discuss how we can accommodate your needs.
Additional Information, Contacts. Additional public records relating to hearing items may be examined at the Commission’s offices by appointment by contacting Carol Adamovic, 609-883-9500, ext. 249. For other questions concerning hearing items, please contact Judith Scharite, Project Review Section assistant at 609-883-9500, ext. 216.
Commission Secretary and Assistant General Counsel
Notice Posted: July 26, 2016
SOURCE DELAWARE RIVER BASIN COMMISSION
http://www.nj.gov/drbc/meetings/upcoming/