Leachate Storage Tank Bids Opened by Lycoming Commissioners

Here is news about a large leachate stroage tank soon to be built:

Work soon could begin on the construction of a 5.8 million gallon underground storage leachate tank at the Lycoming County landfill in Brady Township.

On Tuesday during a county commissioners work session, the commissioners opened seven bids related to the project. The bids ranged from a high of $7.5 million to a low of $5.7 million.

Steve Tucker, director of county Resource Management Services, said the bids will be reviewed and a contract will be awarded to the lowest compliant bidder.

Leachate is liquid waste created by water moving through a landfill. At the county landfill, the liquid is collected in a rubber liner, stored in two lagoons and pumped to a wastewater treatment plant in the Borough of Montgomery.

However, heavy rains, such as those experienced locally this fall, can cause an excessive amount of leachate to be created and overload the lagoons, which are not big enough to begin with, Tucker said.

"A month like September is a prime example of why we need a bigger tank," Tucker said.

This fall, the county had to transport a large amount of the leachate by truck to the treatment plant, Tucker said.

Trucking the leachate is expensive, costing the county about $100,000 just over the last several months, he said.

Leachate  transported by trucks cost up to three times more to treat compared to material that is pumped to the treatment plant, he said.

The tank will be constructed of concrete and lined, Tucker said, adding that the project could take up to two years to complete.

That is why it is important to begin the work as soon as possible, he said.

Tucker said if the commissioners agree to award a contract by Thursday, the winning bidder could receive a notice to proceed by January.

"I want to get this thing under way," he said.

In other business, the commissioners will act on an agreement with the Lycoming County Recreation Authority, the group that oversees the operation of the White Deer Golf Course in Brady Township.

The agreement will allow the county to perform a flood plain restoration project at the headwaters of Black Hole Creek at the golf course.

The project, which will be funded by a $600,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Federation, will allow the county to monitor how flood plain restoration best management practices reduces erosion and nutrient pollution as it relates to nutrient credit trading.

"It could be used as evidence that flood plain restoration can reduce nutrient and sediment runoff for the purposed of nutrient credit generation," said Megan Lehman, county environmental planner.

The county is working on the project with Lititz-based consulting firm Land Studies.

The golf course was not the county's first choice for the project. When the county received the federation grant in 2009, it identified three sites where the restoration project could be implemented. The golf course was not on the list.

Negotiations with landowners in the first two sites fell though, however. Rather than begin negotiations with landowners at the third site, which could result in further delays, the golf course was chosen for the project because the authority already had expressed support for it, Lehman said.

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