Date: 5/14/00 4:31 PM
Sender: Glenn Eugster
To: gccomm@access.mountain.net; rlewis@newwave.net; cestes@gri.org;
kmiller@ari.net; <JHOFFMAN@potomac-commission.org>
cc: leighdunk@hotmail.com; glenn_kinser@fws.gov
Priority: Normal
Subject: Petersburg Community Partner Workshop Summary
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Dear Friends,
Here are the notes from our meeting. Could you get any changes
to Dee or me within the next week or so please? Thanks for your
help with the meeting. I look forward to working with you.
Glenn Eugster
Potomac American Heritage River
Community Partner Meeting: Petersburg, WV Water Supply
Meeting Summary--DRAFT FOR COUNTY REVIEW 4/25/2000
Sponsored by Grant County, West Virginia with the assistance of
the Potomac American Heritage River Initiative and the Friends of
the Potomac
April 17, 2000 10:00 a.m.--2:00 p.m.
Grant County Courthouse, 5 Highland Avenue
Lower Level Conference Room, Petersburg, WV
Meeting purpose: The purpose of this meeting is to assist the
City of Petersburg and Grant County, WV find funds to complete
improvements to the City of Petersburg's water supply intake
pipe. This assistance is being provided by the national Park
Service and the friends of the Potomac through the Potomac
American Heritage River Initiative. This effort is one of the
Friend's "Community Partner Workshops" which are being held to
respond to local initiatives to help communities to match their
needs with existing government and private sector programs.
Attendees:
Bob Sites, Grant County Commission
Russ Hedrick, Jr., Mayor, Petersburg, WV
Carol Harman, City of Petersburg, Planning Council
Dee Kimble, Grant County
William Hymes, City of Petersburg
Frank Sharp, Jr. City of Petersburg
Joseph Hoffman, Interstate Commission for the Potomac River Basin
Glenn Eugster, National Park Service
Michael Mowa, WV Bureau of Public Health
Randall Lewis, WV Rural Water Association
Greg Neilsen, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Absent:
Friends of the Potomac
WV Office of Emergency Services
WV Department of Environmental Protection
Federal Emergency Management Agency, Washington, DC
Overview of Water Supply Issues and Assistance Needs:
Bob Sites, Grant County Commissioner opened the meeting and gave
the participants background on the Petersburg, WV water supply
issue. He described the past events which have influenced the
Potomac River in Petersburg including periodic floods, the 1996
Flood Protection Project, recent drought conditions, ongoing
sedimentation, and community efforts to maintain City water
supplies during low flows.
Commissioner Sites outlined the funding needs which are
anticipated by the City and County to redesign the water supply
in-take pipe. He also indicated that Petersburg has retained an
engineering firm to look at proposed and new alternatives for the
water supply in-take pipe.
Mayor Russ Hedrick, Jr. explained to the audience the history of
the in-take and the problems they have had with silt clogging the
in-take pipe. Mayor Hedrick attributed the problem to the
removal of the Royal Glen Dam.
He also discussed the US Army Corps of Engineers proposals which
have been done for the repair of the water supply in-take, the
increasing demands for water supply and funding considerations.
Mayor Hedrick briefly described Mr. Ours proposal to move the
water supply in-take pipe up river to a location that was deeper
and less likely to receive heavy silt loads. The Mayor also
stressed that the engineering firm was looking for the best
alternative to solve this problem for one and for all.
Glenn Eugster, Assistant Regional Director of the National Park
Service's National Capital Region explained that his assistance
was being providing as part of the Potomac American Heritage
River Initiative. His office was contact by Grant County and
asked for help to find funding to complete this project. The
National Park Service is the lead federal government agency for
the Potomac Initiative and is working with the Friends of the
Potomac who are leading the overall American Heritage River
effort.
Group Discussion:
Following these remarks the group began to discuss the project
and assistance needs. The following are highlights of that
discussion.
* Dee Kimble indicated that Greg Neilsen of the USACOE has
additional information on costs which may be helpful in
identifying alternatives and their associated expenses
* Mayor Hedrick was interested in establishing a timeline for
the project. He also expressed concern that earlier efforts
hadn't really studied the river.
* Carol Harman stressed that the river has changed dramatically.
* Bill Hymes said that there is normally 8-22" of water over the
intake but that high flows cause siltation. The river goes
through a "big constant swing".
* Mayor Hedrick indicated that Dunn Engineering Company has
agreed to study the river within 30 days of being contracted to
do so. He said that they thought they could complete the project
by the end of the summer--construction and all, or at least by
the end of the calendar year, if funding is available.
* Bill Hymes described an option to move the intake 600" up the
river.
* Mayor Hedrick spoke about an area near a small waterfall which
has a pool or pocket approximately 4-6' deep. He urged that the
intake be placed in the pocket.
* Joe Hoffman urged the group to find out what the real problem
is and not just focus on the effects. He stressed the need to
pull people together.
* Mike Mowa mentioned that Romney, WV had done something similar
to this and encouraged the group to consider making another
request to the State Infrastructure Council. He indicated that
he had worked with Dunn Engineering and thought it was
unrealistic to think that the project would be done this year.
* Randall Lewis indicated that the WV Rural Water Association
provides technical assistance and training for this kind of work
and that he has worked on grants and loans for communities.
* Dee Kimble stated that the matching funds cannot be federal
money and that we have exhausted existing State resources.
* Greg Neilsen indicated that the match may be flexible. It may
be possible to use federal pass-through money to the States. He
said that the USACOE has been working on the project for 2-3
years and he would make the hydrological engineering information
available to Dunn Engineering. He also said that the bulk of the
costs estimated by the USACOE are for construction and there may
be a way to reduce costs if the project wasn't "sheet-piled". He
suggested that consideration be given to using an inflatable dam
as an interim measure and said that he wasn't sure whether it
would be necessary to "punch-through" the levee or not.
* Mayor Hedrick indicated that the City well was small and it
might be time to increase it's diameter.
* Carol Harmon reiterated the need to "fix it right".
* Greg Neilsen encouraged the group to make sure that we know
about the environmental requirements for the project to be
approved. He mentioned that if construction is proposed to be
done during fish spawning season (May-September) there may be
problems.
Field Visit : The group then visited the water supply intake
area and continued discussions informally.
Working Lunch: Following lunch each of the participants was
asked to share their thoughts about the site visit and any
suggestions they had for assistance. A summary of the discussion
follows.
WV Rural Water Association
Randall Lewis indicated that there is an opportunity to increase
the size of the pipe to increase capacity for future development.
He mentioned that the USACOE has specific District provisions in
certain areas and mentioned Southwest Pennsylvania where
Congressman Shuster has helped to establish a grant program for
COE projects.
Grant County, WV
Dee Kimble indicated that she has spoken with Lee Alman of
Congressman Molihan's office about possible assistance from the
Federal Emergency management Agency. She mentioned Section 340
Program funds and that there is a draft Fiscal year 2000 bill
which is being developed and will be passed before the Party
Conventions this year.
Dee stressed the need to take information to Senator Byrd's
office and that she will look at funding packages and work with
State delegates, Senator Tomlin, Chairman Michaels, and Joe
Martin.
Interstate Commission for the Potomac River Basin
Joe Hoffman said he had no money. he mentioned, however, that
Scott Rotruck is the Chairman of ICPRB, that Phyllis Cole is the
Alternate Chairman, Harold Michael is on the ICPRB Commission,
Larry Smith of the State Conservation District is an Alternate;
Mike Castel of WV DEP is a Commissioner and Bill Brennon is an
Alternate.
Joe indicated that he is trying to expand ICPRB's work beyond
Washington, DC. He said that he wants to do things for the
States related to water quality and water quantity and that "this
project request is right down what we want to do".
Mr. Hoffman said that ICPRB is doing water supply studies and
they want to assess water supply needs in local areas. He
encouraged Dunn Engineers to expand their work to try to come up
with the best project for the area, rather than focus on fixing
the existing intake. "Look beyond the pipe in the river and
address the siltation problem, said Hoffman.
He urged the group to consider exploring the use of Advance
Mitigation Funds through FEMA to prevent future problems. He
briefly described FEMA's Project IMPACT and thought the
anticipated drought could be considered a potential disaster.
Mr. Hoffman went further to say that he thought by taking the
intake upstream the City wouldn't have to deal with sediment and
could possibly expand the well. He mentioned that on the
Pennsylvania portion of the Susquehanna River in Sudbury and on
the Brandywine River in DE they used an inflatable dam to catch
water during drought conditions. He thought the rubber
inflatable dam was a short-term alternative to a stone dam. The
inflatable dam could be used this year while the long-term
solution was being completed. The inflatable dam could be
anchored, then the dam would be inflated and water level raised
when necessary. During flood periods the dam could be deflated.
Joe Hoffman indicated that ICPRB wants to maintain their interest
in the Petersburg water supply project and has a variety of
expertise including engineering, biology, water quality which
could be used to provide the City and County with technical
assistance.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Greg Neilsen of the US Army Corps of Engineers wondered about the
cost of inflatable dams. He stressed that timing was key to
funding proposals and fishery considerations during construction
(i.e. spawning season). Greg wanted to know how much time do we
have to spend the state funds? Perhaps we could use these funds
for the temporary fix and then other funds for the long-term
solution.
(i.e. expanding the water treatment plant and covering the
permanent water intake costs with EPA funds).
He urged the group to develop a time schedule and strategy to
phase construction to avoid fishing issues.
Mr. Neilsen also suggested that the project be proposed as an
advance mitigation project. He thought that there would be
possible assistance from the USACOE--including credits and
technical assistance. He indicated that he would update Susanne
Bailey from Senator Byrd's Office.
Greg wanted to know who the Liaison would be with Dunn
Engineering. Mayor Hedrick said he would represent the City and
Carol Harman offered to be the Alternate. Dee Kimble offered to
be the County representative.
City of Petersburg
Bill Hymes said that he would look at the design for a future
upgrade.
Carol Harmon said that the City needs a new intake system and it
should link to the water system upgrade planned for the future.
She stressed that if the project is not done we will have a state
of emergency. She said that she is on the Planning Council and
will knock on doors and talk to people. She said we should
strive for an excellent job, done right, as the goal of this
project.
Frank Sharp indicated that he would do anything he could to help.
Mayor Hedrick stressed that the project "needs to be
sustainable--not a repair job but a fix".
WV Bureau of Public Health:
Mike Mowa stressed the need to design for the future. The
current plant is operating at 18-19 hours per day and there were
38 new water supply connections added in February this year. He
thought that their might be a way to do an expedited
environmental review of this project and that consideration
should be given to a State Revolving Loan.
Mr. Mowa pointed out that Dwight Calhoun was key to some funding
options. He indicated that a grant proposal would have to be
submitted to Region * Planning & Development and that an
engineers report was required with an application for funding.
Mike also suggested that the minutes from the meeting be shared
with all the participants and that the group keep in contact.
Potomac American Heritage River:
Glenn Eugster encouraged the City and County to establish a way
to coordinate with Dunn Engineering in order to keep this group
informed of decisions about the water supply intake. He
encouraged the group to look at both short-term (i.e. inflatable
dam) and long-term alternatives.
He also encouraged the group to develop a strategy for handling
the environmental review requirements for the project. A project
"scoping" session with appropriate federal and state government
agencies will save time and anticipate possible issues to be
addressed.
Mr. Eugster also encouraged the group to communicate regularly
and effectively with political leaders to show the progress of
the effort and identify ways they can help. He also suggested
that this issue could be spotlighted in a number of publications
(i.e. ICPRB Newsletter, Washington Post newspaper) as a way to
increase attention and possible funding support.
Glenn Eugster also mentioned that he and Leigh Dunkleberger of
the Friends of the Potomac staff would continue to provide
technical assistance to identify funding programs.
Information:
For further information contact Dee Kimble at (304) 257-4422 or
Glenn Eugster at (202) 619-7492
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