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AWA: Dam silt no threat to wells

The Altoona Water Authority is trying to reassure the Reade Township Municipal Authority that silt from the Altoona authority’s Bellwood reservoir won’t harm the township’s wells.

Workers are placing the silt on game lands near Blandburg — that are within the watershed for the wells — as part of a renovation project on the dam that creates the Bellwood reservoir.

A rumor has arisen about the material, and the Reade Township authority engineer Pat Mulcahy of EADS has been asked to investigate. Mulcahy said he presumes the Altoona authority would have obtained a permit for placing the silt.

AWA officials have met with representatives of the Reade Township authority and provided them with sampling results for the silt, explaining that the material meets the criteria for clean fill, said AWA authority General Manager Perry Thursday.

The AWA has a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit for the disposal and has given a copy of the permit to the Reade Township authority, Perry said.

The problem will be resolved with more discussion, Perry predicted.

Actually, the silt originated from the area where it’s now being placed, having been washed into the reservoir over the years by Bells Gap Run, which originates on the mountain in the Blandburg area, Perry said.

The authority has sent about 10,000 cubic yards of material to Blandburg so far, out of about 142,000 in the reservoir basin, according to AWA officials.

If the issue can’t be resolved, there are areas on the game lands that are not part of the watershed for the Reade Township wells, where the material could go — although the area currently being used is preferable, according to Perry.

During preparations for the dam project, the authority initially took six samples of silt for testing, then took additional samples later, at the insistence of the Game Commission.

The silt is five feet deep in the middle of the reservoir, above the original channel, according to Mark Glenn, the AWA’s consulting engineer from Gwin Dobson & Foreman.

The authority is stockpiling some of the silt for use as topsoil.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.

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