= SALLASC0ST
“Complete Back Mountain News”
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VOL. 82 NO. 35
Sanitation Warning Given
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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1971
Integrated Sewer Plan
Discussed at Meeting
Unless all Back Mountain residents
become seriously involved in pursuing
proper -sanitation facilities, they could
quite conceivably wind up drinking water
contaminated by their own septic tanks.
ThiMwas the dour warning sounded by
R. Spencer Martin, chairman of the
Dallas Area Municipal Authority, at a
community-wide meeting held Monday
night in the Dallas Junior High School
auditorium to discuss the Luzerne County
Planning Commission’s 50-year plan for
sewage collection and disposal in the
Back Mountain.
Edward Heiselberg, the commission’s
planning director, presided. Following a
brief opening statement, he introduced
LukeiChileues of Gilbert Associates Inc.,
a fits of consulting engineers from
Reading which has been retained by
Luzerne County to propose an integrated
sewa disposal plan for all Back
Mountain communities. The meeting
Monday night was specifically directed
toward the towhships of Lehman, Lake,
Kingston, Dallas, Franklin and Jackson
as well as Dallas and Harveys Lake
Boroughs.
According to Mr. Chileues, the general
New College Dorm
Utilizes Unique
| _ Bujlding System.
The new $2 million girls’ dormitory
constructed by College
bein
! Mishhicordia began taking shape today
"as the roof and three concrete floors were
raised into place on
columns.
Using a building system unique in this
area, the pre-poured and cured concrete
floor and roof slabs were separated and
lifted up the steel columns by powerful
hydraulic jacks. The roof, fourth and
third floors were raised to the top of the
columns first. Then the second floor was
raised into position, and the third lowered
into place. Following the addition of 17
fooyextensions on the support columns,
the fourth floor and roof will be raised
and all sections will be welded into place.
The massive concrete floor slabs are
raged by the hydraulic jacks at the rate
of eight feet per hour. The entire process,
including the addition of support column
extensions, is expected to be completed
within three weeks.
Texstar Construction Corporation of
San Antonio, Texas, is the firm lifting the
floors. Job supervisor is Robert Sartor,
also of San Antonio.
The dormitory was designed by Burns
and Loewe of Scranton and is being
constructed by Raymon R. Hedden Co. of
Dallas. The Hedden firm has utilized this
meghod of construction in six previous
préfrects.
‘The 102-unit girls’ dormitory
scheduled to be ready for occupancy by
September 1972.
steel - support
The unkempt triangle of land at the
junction of Routes 309 and 415 has
received a face-lifting, thanks to the
efforts of a young would-be Eagle Scout
named Brett Slocum.
Brett, a second year Boy Scout in Troop
281, has been considering several difficult
community service projects to fulfill
requirements for his Eagle Scout award
when he hit upon the idea of beautifying
the ‘‘island’”’ which separates the two
busy thoroughfares in Dallas Borough.
Realizing that the project would involve
as much planning as doing, Brett im-
mediately drew up a diagram of the plot
which featured a triangular bed of
shrubbery in the center of a neatly
manicured lawn.
is)
Ys
is:
plan must be presented to the Penn-
sylvania Department of Environmental
Resources and Control for approval. If
approved, each municipality will then be
given the opportunity to approve or
disapprove its own portion of the plan. If
a municipality disapproves the plan, it
must submit a plan of its own. If no plan
is submitted, the government can un-
dertake a sewage installation program
and charge the municipality with the
ensuing cost.
Lehman Township residents were the
most vocal group in attendance, asking
questions which ranged from ‘how much
will it cost each family?’ to ‘“‘what was
the criteria used in determining which
areas need sewers?’ There was also a
faction questioning whether sewers are
needed at all.
Answers to these questions included a
statement to the effect that without
allowing for federal and state funding,
this program could cost the average
homeowner $1,500 plus $100 to $150 per
year usage charge.
It was estimated that the project should
take two years from the designing stage
to completion. Target date for Lehman
Township is tentatively scheduled from
1973 to 1975.
Mr. Chileues suggested that Gilbert
Associates considers confined areas with
100 or more homes as areas needing
sewers. He stated that this figure was
determined by both economic and health
factors. ;
Doug Diehl of Roy Weston Associates,
the consulting firm for the Dallas Area
Municipal project, offered constructive
suggestions as to how pipe layout could
be changed to improve efficiency and
reduce cost.
(continued on PAGE THREE)
DALLAS, PA.
SCOTT SAFFIAN
Douglas Diehl Interviewed
PHONE 675-5211
- No Increase in Pollution
FIFTEEN CENTS
Ralph Elston gently prods “Red” as the cows
gather at the barn around milking time. Mr. Elston
has raised cattle on his farm in Kunkle since 1923.
Seen Because of Sewers
by Dottie Beckham
Water, land or air pollution will not be
increased by Dallas Area Municipal
What will eventually be the roof of College Misericordia’s new
girl’s dormitory is shown in the process of being raised by
powerful hydraulic jacks. The three remaining slabs—the
fourth, third, and second floors respectively—are pictured at
ground level.
Boy Scout Plans Beautification Effort
After making several inquiries of local
nurserymen, Brett learned that Japanese
.yews and hybrid rhododendron would be
best suited for the location. Harry
“Bucky” Edwards, owner of the Hunt-
sville Nursery, offered to provide nine
yews and six rhododendron at cost when
he learned of Brett's plans.
With this happy news in hand, Brett
approached the Dallas Borough Council,
which readily approved the young man’s
plan and agreed to shoulder the expenses
of the undertaking.
Because the parcel of land is actually
State property, Brett next contacted Lee
Yeich, roadside development technician
for PennDOT. Mr. Yeich came to Dallas
last Thursday, looked over Brett's plans
and the land in question, and gave the
youngster a green light.
A determined Brett Slocum appeared
bright and early Monday morning armed
with a rake and several trash containers
to commence work on the triangle. By
late afternonn, he had accumulated five
full bags of trash and had cut the knee-
high grass once. \
After the grass was mowed a second
time Tuesday morning and the plot was
marked off, the task of turning over the
soil for the arrival of the shrubs began. If
Brett’s plans go according to schedule,
several Japanese yews and rhododen-
dron will grace what is effectively the
“gateway’’ to Dallas Borough by this
afternoon.
Authority’s waste treatment plant,
Douglas Diehl, project manager for Roy
Weston, environmental engineers in
charge of the sewerage project, told The
‘Dallas Post in an exclusive interview,
Friday.
Infact, under the rules, regulations and
standards developed by the Pennsylvania
Environmental Resources Department
and the Federal Government's Water
Quality Improvement Act of 1970, the
treatment plant will help to stem the tide
of environmental pollution, Mr. Diehl
indicated.
Secondary-treatment standard
required normally includes the removal
of 85 percent biochemical oxygen
demand, 90 percent of suspended solids
and of substantially all pathogens
(harmful bacteria). The Dallas Area
plant is a secondary one.
The project manager made clear that
this plant will do slightly better than the
required standard.
The importance of inter-relating air,
land and water protection is realized by
authority members and most certainly
by the environmental engineers who
oversee the municipal project.
Air pollution was the first point
discussed by Mr. Diehl, who said there
would be ‘““no air pollution: problems, no
incineration.”
The only thing produced and entering
into the air is carbon dioxide, which is
formed by the combustion and decom-
position of organic substances, and is
absorbed from the air by trees and other
plants.
Is the treatment plant itself going to
smell?
‘“No’’, came back the prompt reply. “In
modern plants there are no emanating
odors. Perhaps if you stood very close to
one of the tanks you could detect a slight
musty smell, but nothing at all 100 yards
away.’’
Concerning solid waste disposal, there
will be. some sludge. resulting from the
process and this sludge will be treated
biologically. After biological treatment it
will be hauled by tank trucks to selected
pieces of farm land and spread on the
ground. The sludge, a low-grade fer-
tilizer,
phosphorus and organic humus.
“So many people who are concerned
about the ecology will be pleased to hear
about this recycling process involving the
sludge,’”’ Mr. Diehl pointed out. ‘Because 3
it contains certain nutrients it will
enhance the value of farm land, rather
than pollute it.”’
is composed of nitrogens,
The treated wastewater or effluent will 4
be discharged into Tobys Creek. The
plant will in no way degrade the quality of
Tobys Creek. The young engineer em-
phasized that “Tobys Creek will be in
better condition after the treatment plant
is in use than ever before.” He added that |
there has been a real health hazard in the
area due to density of homes with septic
tanks and the fact that the ground is so
structured that it will not absorb sewage.
Too much raw sewage has been emptying
into Tobys Creek for too many years.
With the municipal sewer system in
operation this particular water pollution
will be eliminated.
Recently Daniel B. Drawbaugh, on
director of the
sewerage division
water supply and
in the State En-
vironmental Resources Department’s
Bureau of Sanitary Engineering,
presented the regulatory agency’s view-
point on the development, interpretation
and implementation of federal and state
laws concerning treatment plant design.
“Comprehensive planning for
wastewater management is a valuable
and necessary tool to help us prevent and
eliminate water pollution,” Mr. Draw-
baugh declared. “These objectives also
include reclamation and restoration to a
clean, unpolluted condition of every
polluted stream in the Commonwealth.”
How does municipal treatment of
wastes affect residents’ drinking water in
this area?
According to Mr. Diehl, it will not af-
fect it at all for the worse. It should
alleviate some problems for private well
owners—in as much as private septic
tanks will not be used where the sewer
system has been installed, and therefore
will not drain into private wells.
(continued on PAGE THREE)