By Joseph Bell

Staff Writer

While M&M Contractors out of Johnsonburg withdrew its $545,118.50 bid for the H.B. Norton Dam Improvement Project Phase II more than a month ago, Paul McCurdy, environmental manager to the Ridgway Borough Council reported last night that some progress will be made.
“(Today), I have a meeting out on the dam with some potential contractors for grouting that seep by the primary spillway where the steps go up,” McCurdy said. “There’s a little bit of water seepage there so we’ll bore down behind that into the earthen dam and inject some low-pressure grout to seal it, some gap into the concrete there, and seal it up. It’s sort of like caulking.
“We will get that done this year and do the annual dam inspection.”
According to McCurdy, the improvements would have been part of the initial project.
“But to keep the DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) happy and to be responsible dam-owners, it makes sense for us to go ahead and do that now,” McCurdy said. “That will cost us somewhere around $10,000 to $12,000, a ballpark guess there.
“It had to be done either way.”
McCurdy also reported that the roof of the chemical building is to be replaced this year.
“The other roofs will be worked into the 2010 budget as money allows,” McCurdy said. “The roofer found more problems when he  removed the old roofing.”
DEP officials also have notified borough officials that the water plant discharge requires an NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permit.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Web site, industrial, municipal and other facilities must obtain permits if their discharges go directly to surface waters.
“The application has been filed,” McCurdy said. “We are in the negotiating phase of the permit process.”