WEIGH SCALES - Flood damage to Shamokin-Coal Township sewer system infrastructure has neared three-quarters of a million dollars.
The engineer for Shamokin-Coal Township Joint Sewer Authority provided cost estimates that reach $745,000 for repairs from damage caused by September flooding after Tropical Storm Lee passed through the Northeast.
The cost to replace portions of sewer interceptor lines in Shamokin's Fifth Ward alone is estimated at $525,000, according to Great Valley Consultants.
Another $100,000 will be needed to repair or replace 10 manholes in the Shamokin Creek channel.
Sam Rumberger III, assistant director of operations, told authority board members during Wednesday's monthly meeting that two manholes were busted apart completely, including one near Johnny's Farm Market, South Shamokin Street, Shamokin.
Manholes marred
On Sunday, Rumberger explained that with that number of manholes exposed, creek water has been rushing into the sewer lines and causing them to overflow into the creek more frequently.
That's a product of the combined sewer overflow system currently in place, and it's a system whose days are numbered as the authority is neck deep in a costly project - one mandated by the federal government - to eliminate the overflows and make other upgrades to ensure the entire system is more environmentally friendly.
There are 67 overflow points throughout the authority's sewer system. The overflow is engineered to occur during heavy rainfall, alleviating the amount and force of water flowing through sewer lines and to the main sewer plant.
But with the amount of creek water pouring into the system through the damaged manholes - just how much is unknown - overflow is occurring even in cases of light rainfall, Rumberger said.
The exposure also allows the creek water to drag debris into the sewer lines, like mud, coal silt and stones.
Discovering damage
To give an idea of just how forceful the flooding had been, Rumberger said the flow of Shamokin Creek in the Fifth Ward actually moved from one side of the channel to the other.
The higher-than-normal water levels that persisted for about four months made diagnosing damage difficult and the "exact extent of the damage was not known," according to a memo by the authority engineer.
"Some issues related to the flooding are only being discovered now and the damages were unknown until complaints from residents were made," the memo states.
Other repairs include damage to a pump station and a water treatment building in Ranshaw at a cost of $48,000, and repairs to exposed pipes near Shamokin's Rescue Fire Company at a cost of $35,000.
An unknown length of sewer interceptor lines will also need to be cleaned at a cost of up to $20 a foot. This does not account for any potential repairs to the lines themselves.
None of the repairs can be performed in-house, Rumberger told the board.
FEMA officials are expected to visit damaged sites late next week.
Paying for repairs
While Great Valley Consultants expects the authority would receive about $500,000 in state and federal emergency funding toward repairs, engineer Scott Keefer told board members during Wednesday's monthly meeting that Federal Emergency Management Agency could potentially cover all of it.
Rumberger said during the meeting that the authority had been lost in the shuffle when FEMA first came to the area to assess damages. This could prove beneficial, he said, since the scope of the flood damage has widened now that water flow has returned to normal, something he said occurred just this month.
He told the board that he fully expressed the authority's financial situation to FEMA officials.
The authority is maxed out, he said, having already increased consumer rates as it gears up for an estimated $37 million project at the sewer plant. Getting a loan to make the emergency repairs in lieu of federal funding is out of the question, Rumberger told the board in recalling what he said to FEMA officials.