Clinton County Remains Under Drought Warning Despite Full Reservoirs: Water Levels To Be Lowered at Ohl Reservoir Before Construction Can Be Completed

By Emily Wright

LOCK HAVEN – The Lock Haven City Council had a number of items to discuss on the agenda for its regular meeting Monday evening. An unexpected topic of discussion was an update to the city’s drought warning since the most recent updates provided by the city-hired engineers, Gwin Dobson and Foreman (GD&F), were optimistic due to the water levels at Ohl Reservoir being naturally replenished. The replenishment led to the announcement that the city was almost out of the stage one drought trigger for water restriction, however during Monday night’s meeting City Manager Greg Wilson reported that the city is still facing a water emergency due to construction that needs to be completed at the reservoir.

A joint water authority meeting between Lock Haven City Council, the Suburban Water Authority, and Central Clinton County Water Filtration Authority (CCCWFA) was held on January 22, and at that time GD&F engineers reported that there was less concern for emergency water usage at that time. Leak detection surveillance was to continue, but due to the natural replenishment of the dam, the engineers did not find it necessary to continue pursuing an in-stream flow reduction between Ohl and Keller Reservoir. 

Having most of the temporary water system installed within budget, all expenses incurred up to date, and almost all equipment suitable for the permanent well project, GD&F representatives reported that they had “hit a point where we’re comfortable”. They explained that there had been enough rainfall and snowmelt to bring the city’s water supply out of emergency status, so any further work on the temporary water system was not needed as the reservoir’s overall capacity had reached approximately 72%. 

Despite optimistic reports about the water emergency in January, City Manager Greg Wilson reported Monday night that the water system is still classified as being in a “Drought Warning” according to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). “While it has been widely reported that the reservoirs are all but full, it is easy to assume that the water emergency has ended. However, in order to complete the construction at Ohl as part of the EPA-required upgrades, Ohl’s reservoir must be lowered by 3 feet,” Wilson said before confirming that permission to lower the water levels at Ohl has been provided by the EPA and that the process is underway.

Because of the need to lower water levels at the reservoir to complete construction, the water system remains in a “vulnerable state” because it is at the mercy of future precipitation. As a result, customers are still being asked to reduce their individual water use by 10 to 15 percent, the equivalent of six to nine gallons per day. Wilson provided an example of how residents can reduce their water usage to this extent, “A very easy way to do that is to capture the water in your sink while you’re waiting for it to get hot,” he said. “If you captured that in a pitcher, that will likely fill your coffeemaker twice, so doing that a couple times a day would create a 10 to 15 percent reduction.” 

Although work on installing the emergency water supply from the supplemental wells has been paused, the city is prepared to resume the operation of the wells if necessary, and the use of the wells as an emergency supply has been approved by the DEP until the middle of this year. Additionally, the city is in the process of applying to the DEP for permanent use of the wells as originally planned before the water emergency was declared.

Mayor Joel Long inquired about the timeline for the permanent connection to the wells during Monday’s meeting. City Manager Wilson reported that the permanent connection is already engineered and that GD&F has already completed a cost a

nalysis to determine whether it would cost less long-term to pipe directly to the filtration plant or to treat the water and put it directly into the system. “The savings is only about a $7,000.00 difference, so the plan originally in place was to take it to the filtration plant […] so that’ll be the plan going forward,” Wilson said. 

Negotiations continue with a few property owners for temporary construction easements for the emergency water supply, and Wilson reported that easements for the permanent line solution still need to be obtained. “A lot of it will be in the public right of way on municipal streets, but some of it will not,” he said. “For example, the railroad tracks… we need permanent approval from Norfolk Southern, which is something that went out to the forum and is already being worked on.” 

As for the reduction in water usage since the emergency drought declaration was put into effect, “We did not earn any rave reviews,” Wilson said before explaining that since there wasn’t a notable reduction in water usage amongst residents, the DEP has completely denied certain requests.  

Residents in the following municipalities are urged to continue reducing water usage in their households by six to nine gallons per day in order to avoid further strain on the water system: Allison, Bald

Eagle, Castanea, Colebrook, Dunnstable, Lamar, Wayne, Woodward, Flemington, Mill Hall, and the City of Lock Haven. 

To stay up-to-date on drought conditions, the DEP website provides daily updates that can be viewed by visiting www.dep.pa.gov/Business/Water/PlanningConservation/Drought/Pages/default.aspx.