Three Back Mountain municipalities plan to team up on their own to address federal water pollution reduction mandates instead of joining a Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority initiative.

These municipalities — Dallas borough and Kingston and Dallas townships — are hammering out an agreement to participate in a joint plan under the Dallas Area Municipal Authority umbrella, officials say.

It’s somewhat of a gamble because the municipal authority, often called DAMA, is still developing a proposed compliance plan, which means the projected cost to property owners is still unknown. In comparison, the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority says its regional plan expected to cover more than 30 municipalities would cost each property owner an estimated $36 to $54 annually.

Kingston Township Supervisor Chairman James Reino said he’s confident the separate Back Mountain approach will be the best fiscal choice for the three.

“We know for sure as elected officials in the Back Mountain we have shown tremendous savings for taxpayers by working together, and we don’t anticipate this being any different,” Reino said.

Dallas Borough Manager Tracey Carr concurred.

“Nobody has a concrete dollar amount yet, but I do think that the three of us do work together well and work with DAMA well. And there is an optimism that this will be good for our entire Back Mountain area,” Carr said.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is requiring the municipalities to reduce the quantity of sediment, nitrogen and phosphorus washed and deposited into the Susquehanna River and other waterways that feed into the Chesapeake Bay.

Municipalities must submit stormwater plans to the state Department of Environmental Protection as early as September showing how they will cut the release of sediment by 10 percent, phosphorus by 5 percent and nitrogen by 3 percent over the next five years.

Reino said Back Mountain representatives started discussing their own joint venture approximately a year before the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority broached the idea of a regional plan in 2016.

“We have nothing against the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority and think it’s a great organization,” Reino said. “We just felt it was a natural fit for us to stay within our territory.”

Relying on the municipal authority to oversee the plan made sense because it already handles sewage for the three municipalities, which all have representatives on the authority board, Reino said. Back Mountain municipalities have been sharing equipment, the cost of a regional emergency management center and other cooperative programs, he said.

The municipal authority also handles garbage and recycling, making stormwater the “logical next step,” Carr said.

“This seems more an expansion of the authority we already formed,” Carr said. “We’ve done several things together and don’t see how this would be any different.”

A municipal authority representative could not be immediately reached for comment Monday.

A variety of solutions may be considered because the municipalities have several major streams, the Huntsville Reservoir and some ponding areas, Reino said. The municipalities would realize savings by sharing the cost of engineering and other expenses, he said.

Stream bank restoration may be one option to address the mandate, said Ryan Doughton, who handles engineering services for Dallas Township.

Projects stabilizing eroding stretches of the bank along Toby Creek and other waterways would reduce sediment washed downstream, said Doughton, of Douglas F. Trumbower and Associates in Wilkes-Barre. He also expects more rain gardens that hold and filter runoff.

When projects and their costs are tallied, an estimated fee amount can be calculated, Doughton said. The owners of properties with more paved or “impervious” areas would pay more because they absorb less runoff, but the specific formula hasn’t been set, he said.

The $33 million Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority proposal involves work on the Toby Creek impounding basin off Division Street in Pringle to make it more absorbent, stream bank restoration along Solomon Creek on the east side of the river and enhancements at a Plymouth detention basin, Abrahams Creek near the county recreational complex in Forty Fort, and another water collection area in Hanover Township.

The three municipalities’ decision to pursue their own plan won’t alter the amount of the fee, which has been estimated to range from $3 to $4.50 per property per month, said Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority Solicitor William Finnegan.

“The more that participate the better, but the fee won’t be higher than $4.50. It will have some impact, but not a material impact,” Finnegan said.

Tom O’Conner of Kingston Attorney for Ecumenical Enterprises Inc., Carole Poggi of Kingston, Member of EEI, Jim Reino of Shavertown, Owner of M.M.R., Msgr. Donald A. McAndrews of Dunmore,Co-Founder of EEI, Carla Reino of Shavertown, Sister Ann Turnbach of Dallas, Board member of EEI, Susan Cooper of Hanover Twp assistant to Ceo and Martin Everhart of Dallas gather for the ribbon cutting of the new daycare center .
Amanda Hrycyna|For Times Leader
https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/web1_reinomug.jpeg.optimal.jpegTom O’Conner of Kingston Attorney for Ecumenical Enterprises Inc., Carole Poggi of Kingston, Member of EEI, Jim Reino of Shavertown, Owner of M.M.R., Msgr. Donald A. McAndrews of Dunmore,Co-Founder of EEI, Carla Reino of Shavertown, Sister Ann Turnbach of Dallas, Board member of EEI, Susan Cooper of Hanover Twp assistant to Ceo and Martin Everhart of Dallas gather for the ribbon cutting of the new daycare center .
Amanda Hrycyna|For Times Leader

By Jennifer Learn-Andes

jandes@timesleader.com

Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.