OVER-ARCHING CONCERN
Borough get’s $600K boost for storm sewer repairs State Rep. Joe Ciresi, D-146th Dist., accepted an offer by borough officials to see nearly a half-mile of one of Pottstown’s stormwater arches last year. He said in addition to a tree branch wedged inside
POTTSTOWN » The borough’s century-old storm sewer system, overloaded by heavy rainfall two summers in a row, is getting some help from Harrisburg — $600,000 worth of help.
State Rep. Joe Ciresi, D146th Dist., and state Sen. Bob Mensch, R-24th Dist., announced the award of a $500,000 small water and sewer grant, and another $100,000 H2O PA grant for the borough.
The funding comes through the Commonwealth Financing Authority.
Both grants will be used for the ongoing stormwater arch rehabilitation project, which includes a comprehensive inspection, evaluation and repair in the 60-mile system of brick, stone and cement storm sewer arches that crisscross the borough.
Most were once small streams or “runs” that did not always flow, and over the years, as the borough was built out, they were slowly bricked over to increase land for development.
The stream that has plagued Walnut Street and contributed to flooding there is called Goose Run and first goes underground opposite Lincoln Elementary School at North York and Eighth streets.
Earlier this month Tropical Storm Isaias dumped six inches of rain into Manatawny Creek and, for the second time in 13 months, filled the basements of homes in the first block of Walnut Street.
“This is why funding for these projects was a major
"I will keep pushing to invest in repairing and modernizing our infrastructure and make sure that our communities have a strong foundation to build on."
— State Rep. Joe Ciresi, D-146th District
priority of mine, so that we address these structural issues now, not later when they could put people and the environment at risk,” Ciresi said in a press release announcing the funding.
“I will keep pushing to invest in repairing and modernizing our infrastructure and make sure that our communities have a strong foundation to build on,” he said.”While stormwater and sewer infrastructure is usually not at the top of people’s minds, it’s absolutely critical to keep maintained and in good repair.”
“It is important to continuously improve and expand our water and sewer systems to ensure they are functioning at the most efficient levels,” Mensch said in a separate release announcing grants throughout his district.
Pottstown Borough Manager Justin Keller welcomed the infusion of funds and said the efforts of Mensch, Ciresi and state Rep. Tim Hennessey, R-26th Dist., were integral to obtaining them.
“The dedication and absolute determination of Senator Mensch, Representatives Ciresi and Hennessey was critical to identify this grant program and the resulting funding,” Keller wrote.
“We couldn’t have done this without them collectively coming together to convince their peers of statewide need for this grant program, and for their drive to bring much needed funding to benefit the residents of Pottstown,” Keller wrote in an email reply to a MediaNews Group query.
“This funding is a great start to addressing the issues with the aging stormwater arches, but it is merely a fraction of what we will eventually need to address the entire system,” Keller wrote.
“Two years ago a grant program didn’t even exist that would allow us to address storm infrastructure on private properties,” Keller wrote. “Through persistent advocacy from the borough and PAID we convened several meetings with our state reps and senator to make them aware that these issues are not unique to the borough and pressed hard for the creation of a more flexible state grant program.”
“We were pleasantly surprised that these efforts resulted in the amendment of an existing program which met our needs, and we were ecstatic when we were awarded the grant,” said Keller.
The funding comes on top of $281,884 provided last September by Harrisburg through the Flood Mitigation program of the Department of Community
and Economic Development.
“These funds along with the funds we received through the flood mitigation grant will be split into three separate buckets,” Keller explained.
One bucket will be dedicated “to address reconstruction of recently collapsed arches on private property with the following priority in this order: 64 Walnut; 1200 High; and the former lumber yard property on Hanover Street,” according to Keller.
“I cannot say for certain if full reconstruction will be able to be funded at the latter two properties and we will have to see where we are at with the funding remaining after the more detailed estimates come in for 64 Walnut,” he wrote.
The second “bucket” of funding will be used “to conduct a study of the entire arch system and identify areas for priority repairs that will prevent further degradation,” Keller wrote.
The third funding “bucket” will be used for “restoration and maintenance priority repair areas identified in the study,” Keller wrote. “These would likely be areas that are beginning to show signs of degradation such as missing mortar, and undermining of the foundation walls of the arch, etc.”
Some of the repairs may be extensive given that that some of that infrastructure goes back to the Civil War era.
“I’ve been inside one of them and you start to see the effect of 150 years of wear and tear on these tunnels and you start to realize the magnitude of the problem,” Hennessey said last year.
The mix of higher volumes of water unleashed
by climate-change-fueled storm surges coming through a crumbling 150-year-old stone tunnel at a higher velocity is not a recipe for sustainability, according to Pottstown Public Works Director Doug Yerger.
“You would be amazed at the velocity this water moves through these tunnels,” he said last year.
Pottstown Public Works has so far mapped 69 road crossings, and documented arches and tunnels under 225 privately owned parcels in Pottstown, like Levengood’s.
It’s not even the first time an arch near her house has given the borough trouble.
In 2003, a portion of the same arch collapsed in the middle of Walnut Street in front of her house.
The cost to repair it was roughly $700,000 and took 10 months.
Since then, six other arches around the borough have collapsed, including off High Street and over by The Hill School.