Capital
Region Water Board Meeting
April 12, 2004,
10 AM
at
the Susquehanna River
Basin Commission
Approved Minutes
Present:
Betty Conner,
Chair, Marshall Goulding, Vice Chair,
George
Lazorchick, SRBC, Roger Karsnitz, David Sheridan, Aqua Cura, Tom
McElroy, PA
Geological Survey, John Seitz, York Co. Planning Commission, Randy
Hurst, Mette
Evans & Woodside, W.A. Lyon, Mary Frey, Lancaster Co. Planning
Commission, Cindy Metzger, Secretary
Introductions
were made.
Minutes
were approved with corrections. Cindy
Metzger will be mailing out corrected minutes with
attachments.
Treasurer’s Report- Betty Conner
reviewed Treasurer’s Report from March meeting.
No changes were made.
LSRB Study:
Walter Lyon
reported that we had contacted the congressional delegation to ask for
help in
funding the Phase II Study. A letter was
sent to Congressman Platts (attached) with copies to Congressmen
Shuster,
Holden, Pitts, and Petersen. The
estimated cost of the Study is $1.5 million over 2 years.
There has been no response from the letter
yet.
Walter recommended sending letters to Senator
Santorum and
Senator Specter asking for their support.
Lower Susquehanna Basin Regional Water Resources Committee (Act
220)-
Betty reported that DEP has been working on the
water use
registration process. So far, 10,000
sources have preregistered. DEP expects
at least 15,000 registrants. The LSRB
Regional Committee meets on the first Monday of alternate months. Appointments to the Statewide Committee have
been completed and the first meeting will be May 10 from 10-to -3 at
the Rachel Carson
State Office
Building.
William Morris is LSRB Regional Committee
representative to the Statewide Water Resources Planning Committee.
The Public Outreach function of the Regional
Committees will
be initiated by bringing together Ad Hoc committees from each region in
May at
a central location. They will develop a
framework for public education on water use planning that can be
tailored to
each region. The statewide committee
will then endorse the framework.
Several presentations were made to the Committee
at the
April 5 meeting.
- A group from the Cocalico area in Lancaster
concerned about sustainability of their water resources described a
regional planning process involving seven townships and two boroughs.
- Paxton Creek Watershed Association is
working on a plan to reduce the effects of stormwater sedimentation in
their watershed.
- Walter Lyon
reported that he gave a presentation at the April 5 meeting of the LSRB
Water Resources Committee about the CRWB and the Phase II Study. He said that the meeting was very well
attended and that good questions were asked. Walter
felt that we could work with the Committee and that between the studies
there would be cooperation and coordination, not duplication.
- Stephanie Harmon, a Watershed
Specialist for the Lebanon County Conservation District, described the
watersheds and streams within jurisdictions in Lebanon
County and the impact of
non-point source pollution from agriculture and urban runoff, and the
remediation being done.
There was a timeline given at the meeting giving
dates for
accomplishing the goals of the Regional Committees, but no price tag
was listed
and no talk about where the funds would come from.
George Lazorchick asked if DEP had considered
hosting
websites for each of the Regional Committees where the minutes from the
meetings would be posted. Betty said
that there are websites set up and maintained by DEP.
It was suggested that our website list links
to these sites.
Walter Lyon said
that there
is no funding for the work of the Regional Committees and that there is
a plan
to have an $800 million bond issue, but so far with no talk of any part
of it
for water planning. He motioned that our
Board go on record and contact the Legislature and the Governor’s
office to ask
that at least part of that bond issue be earmarked for water planning. Motion was seconded and passed.
Cindy Metzger
suggested
preparing a letter to be sent out to the Board mailing list so that the
members
could then send it to the legislature asking that part of this Bond
issue be
used for water planning. Walter
Lyon suggested that:
- CRWB send a letter to the legislators
and the Governor
- Entities of the Board send a letter to
them endorsing the Board’s position.
Walter, Betty and Marshall agreed to get together
to draft
the letters.
Committee Reports
Web Page Report-Marshall
Goulding
reported that the Board has received an invoice for web hosting costing
$144
for 9 years. Jeff Hines recommended that
we agree to those terms and so our web hosting will go on through
Network
Solutions.
Bylaws Committee-Marshall reported that
there are
some minor changes that need to be made on the bylaws and that he
intends to
ask for help from Dave Jostenski as well as Rich Cairo of SRBC and he
will have
recommendations to review at the next meeting.
Office Update-Marshall
displayed a proposed letterhead for the CRWB and asked for comments. There was one suggestion, to list Marshall
Goulding as Executive Director above the office
address. George Lazorchick recommended
creating some
official email stationary. Cindy
Metzger will take care of this.
Insurance- Roger
Karsnitz reported that he has still been unable to contact Louise
Knight. He will try this week and if he
cannot contact
her then Marshall Goulding will make
a
contact. The Bylaws call for insurance.
Basin Condition
Update- George Lazorchick reported that for March the Susquehanna
River Basin had a 1”
deficit, but
both the groundwater and streamflow are above average because of
melting
snowpack. Out of 18 wells, 17 are
registering significant increases. There
is potential flooding predicted for this week because of slow moving
storm
systems and heavy rain. We are in good
shape going into the spring and summer.
New Business-
Dave Sheridan reported that the Swatara Creek
Watershed
Association is seeking a Growing Greener grant to study the feasibility
of
infrastructure for alternate sources of water, such as wastewater and
stormwater reuse, for nonpotable uses.
Dave Sheridan said that townships and Boroughs need to begin
enacting
requirements for conservation and that the local municipalities are
going to
have to take the lead in making changes.
Rather than putting a band-aid on the problem of what to do
during or after
a drought, it would be prudent to be conserving so that a drought would
not
have such devastating results. George
Lazorchick recommended that Dave contact Rich Cairo at SRBC. Betty Conner
asked if Dave Sheridan would send us an electronic copy of the grant
proposal
and he said he would. She asked if the
Board could still send letters of support for the grant.
He said that would be appropriate.
Walter Lyon
suggested that
water conservation guidelines need to be established in the
pre-permitting stages. He suggested that
the Board meet with PUC,
DEP, DCED Community Affairs, PA Dept of Agriculture, Corps of
Engineers, and
EPA to ask three questions:
- What are the problems in our area?
- What are you doing about them?
- What do you think we should have in
our Phase II Comprehensive Plan that would address this?
The Executive Committee will need
to set up a meeting to
discuss this.
Next Meeting- June 2, 2004 at SRBC 10 AM