Published: November 14, 2009 11:25 pm      

By KATHY MELLOTT

PATTON — After years of pushing and prodding from the state Department of Environmental Protection, the Patton Municipal Authority should soon have a backup water supply.

The authority also will have a primary source with sufficient volume to discontinue the use of water from Chest Creek.

Three wells, located between one and two miles outside of town, have been drilled.

Last week, hydrobiologists and engineers working for the authority began testing the first well. Similar testing is set for the other two wells this week.

“We were cited by DEP, (which said) that we needed a second source for water,” said authority Chairman Glenn Bowman. “The (well) water tested excellent, so probably the wells will be our main source.”

For more than 80 years, the borough has drawn water from Chest Creek.

That water has been treated in what was once a state of the art facility, then sold to the system’s 1,000 customers, most of whom are borough residents.

Water also is sold to a small number of customers in Elder and East Carroll townships and to the Cambria Heights middle and high schools located in Clearfield Township, Borough Secretary Donna Dunegan said.

Patton Mayor Steve Bakajza said there long have been fears that a contaminant would spill into Chest Creek, causing an emergency for water customers.

“We have no backup source,” he said.

“What if something pollutes Chest Creek? We’re not connected to another source. We’d have nothing.”

In recent years, the state has come down hard on the authority because it was returning treated water to Chest Creek. As a result, the authority built a $500,000 backwash holding facility.

About five years ago, the authority

– using Pennvest money and other funding sources – replaced much of the distribution system throughout town.

That step eliminated leaking lines and cut usage in half – from a half-million gallons a day to about 250,000 gallons, Bowman said.

The work was done at about the same time the borough spent $5 million to upgrade the sewer system, significantly expanding the treatment capacity, Bakajza said.

On the horizon is a much-needed rehabilitation of the 1928 plant. That project would carry a $10 million to

$11 million price tag.

But the upgrade would not be necessary if the wells provide enough quality water, Bakajza said.

The 72-hour well testing looks not only at the quantity of the water coming from the wells, but monitors wetlands in the area and keeps tabs on private wells over a wide region to make sure the new ones are not pulling from other sources, Bowman said.

It may be several weeks until the results of the testing are compiled. But authority members and council members are hopeful the information will open the door for the authority to seek funding to develop the wells.

No cost estimates on switching all wells are available. The biggest chunk of the expense is expected to be construction of transmission lines from well sites on the hill to the town below.

Any treatment will be done at the well head, with the water then transferred to the authority’s reservoir, Bowman said. Now, a person works most of the day at the plant. The new process would require only a few minutes, he said.

“There would be substantial savings,” Bowman said.

Any switch to wells will need DEP approval, council members said.

“The support from DEP has been very good,” Councilman Joe Noel said. “They’ve been behind us.”

“We’ve stressed to DEP that we want to do this right,” added Councilman Richard Resko.