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AWA looks to buy land

Watershed tract would make it easier to clean up Kittanning Run

The Altoona Water Authority has hired a consultant to pursue a grant that would enable the authority to buy a large tract of watershed, making it easier to clean up a contaminated stream that now bypasses the authority’s Horseshoe Curve reservoirs.

The authority will pay Richard C. Sutter and Associates $15,500 to seek funds for the purchase of 2,000 acres, including strip-mined ground that feeds Kittanning Run — whose water tinted orange from acid-mine drainage runs in a rock-lined channel next to Veterans Memorial Highway.

Owning the Cooney Bros. Coal Co. land would facilitate creation of passive treatment systems for Kittanning Run like those that in recent decades have helped purify Glen White Run, which drains the hollow on the other side of the mountain lobe directly behind the apex of the Curve.

Such a cleanup for Kittanning Run could make more good-quality water available for a system that — with 11 reservoirs — already has an abundance, especially considering its location in a headwaters area, officials indicated.

The trust that owns the land sought out the authority in expectation of the authority’s interest in buying it, according to authority General Manager Mark Perry.

The authority in turn sought out Sutter, who has identified the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ acquisition grant program as a possible source of funds, according to Perry.

The deadline for applying for money from the program is in April, Perry said.

The tract includes areas that have been reclaimed and areas that were pocked by gray, water-filled pits and bony piles.

High walls have been removed in recent times, according to Perry.

The price is still being negotiated, Perry said.

On the advice of solicitor Dave Consiglio, the authority didn’t share a ballpark estimate of the ground’s monetary value.

The tract has not been fully surveyed, Perry said.

In November, the authority acquired 79 acres of Kittanning Run watershed from John and Edith Wenturine for $55,000, an acquisition that could also be helpful in a future Kittanning Run cleanup, according to Perry.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.

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