MAHANOY CITY — After years of preparation, the Mahanoy Township Authority will soon begin the Lofty Dam reservoir rehabilitation project to meet current safety standards.
Ten bids were opened at MTA’s January meeting for the multi-million dollar project, with the project awarded to the lowest apparent bidder, Performance Construction Services Inc., Harrisburg, with a bid of $2,442,563. The rehabilitation and upgrade project is mandated by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Project Manager James J. Rhoades Jr. of Alfred Benesch & Co., the authority’s consulting engineers, said the low bid fit well with the amount of the low-interest loan awarded to MTA by the state Infrastructure Investment Authority.
“The total construction estimate in the PennVEST application was $2.8 million, so the bid falls within the authority budget. No user rate adjustment is required to complete the project,” Rhoades said.
Benesch project manager Jennifer M. Kowalonek added, “The authority is happy with the bid results. The closeness of the low bids show that the scope of work was understood by the contractors and we’re looking forward to a successful project.”
The PennVEST closing is scheduled for Feb. 24, and construction is scheduled to begin in March. The project is expected to be completed March 2017.
The authority received positive news from Rhoades on Oct. 21 that it had been awarded the 20-year PennVEST loan at one percent interest to complete the funding process for the project. The authority had been approved for a Commonwealth Financing Authority grant of $1,666,667.
The DEP-mandated project includes necessary improvements to raise the dam breast, control seepage, rehabilitate upstream embankment, upgrade the spillway and repair the outlet work. The overall project will also include the installation of modern water meters for customers throughout the authority’s distribution system. The estimated cost of the entire plan is about $4.5 million.
MTA board President Kathleen Wufsus is pleased that the construction phase will begin soon.
“After all these years, it’s about time,” Wufsus said. “We’re a team and we want to get the job done and finally put it behind us.”
Wufsus said the water meter installations will be done while the reservoir upgrade is ongoing.
The Lofty Dam, located in Kline Township, serves as a DEP-permitted public water supply source. It is an earthen embankment 1,100 feet in length and 28 feet high. The impoundment covers 31 acres and contains 118 million gallons of water. MTA public water serves a population of about 7,000 through 2,800 connections in the boroughs of Mahanoy City and Gilberton and the villages of Bowmans, Boston Run, Maple Hill and other areas of Mahanoy Township, including undeveloped residential and commercial properties with potential for growth.
Typically, the authority pumps in excess of 60 million gallons annually from this source to meet customer demands. The Lofty Dam area will continue to be part of the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Forest-Game Cooperative Program, where the area is open to the public for hunting and trapping.
In 1989, MTA sold the dam and 1,068 acres to the state game commission with the intent to have the PGC rehabilitate the dam. In 1998, DEP’s Bureau of Dam Safety performed an inspection on the embankment and expressed concern with the seepage, and deteriorated conditions of the embankment and the spillway. Subsequently, the spillway was repaired in accordance with the state agency’s recommendations. In 1999, inspections determined that the seepage and embankment conditions continued to deteriorate. Based on this inspection, the Bureau of Dam Safety requested that the seepage and embankment conditions be corrected and stabilized. An alternative to this work was to draw down and breach the reservoir. Since the dam is used as a public water supply source, breaching of the dam was not a viable option.
After years of legal dealings, in 2005, the MTA was forced to take back ownership as the PGC refused to rehabilitate the dam.
At the January meeting, the authority also reorganized, retaining Wufsus as president, Edward Applegate as vice president, Cheryl Backo as secretary, Sharon Chiao as treasurer, with John Kelly Jr. as a member.
The board also retained John B. Lieberman III of the law office of Zimmerman, Lieberman and Tamulonis as solicitor, Benesch as the consulting engineering firm and Jones & Co. as auditor.