Published: October 13, 2009 11:36 pm      

Flood plan goes to DEP

SOMERSET — A blueprint to prevent flooding in the Stonycreek River watershed was approved Tuesday by the Somerset County commissioners and will be forwarded to the state for its approval.

The Department of Environmental Protection has 90 days to decide whether it will agree to the plan. If it does, local municipalities then must get on board or face the loss of state funding such as liquid fuels money.

Brad Zearfoss, director of the Somerset County Planning Commission, said the state-mandated stormwater management plan aims to prevent flood damage from new development and to identify current flooding problems.

He said more than 100 flooding concerns have been identified.

The far-reaching watershed includes 21 municipalities in Somerset County beginning in Berlin and northward through 15 localities in Cambria County to Johnstown. There, the river merges with the Little Conemaugh to form the Conemaugh River.

The flood hazards are relatively minor, Zearfoss said, and include such things as debris impeding flow in drainage ditches and culverts.

The study was prepared for both counties by the Cambria County Conservation District with engineering consultant Borton-Lawson Inc. of Bethlehem.

Cambria commissioners approved the management plan during the summer.

Somerset President Commissioner Pamela Tokar-Ickes and other officials praised the inter-county cooperation.

“Water doesn’t know political boundaries,” said Robb Piper, district manager of the Cambria conservation district.

The Stonycreek River watershed covers 469 square miles.

The effort to devise the stormwater management plan has been in the works since 2003.