Brackenridge will address state Department of Environmental Protection concerns about water turbidity in its treatment operation through a consent agreement.

Council unanimously approved the consent order and agreement from the DEP last week.

Turbidity refers to cloudiness or a deficiency in purity in water usually caused by sediment, borough engineer Gordon Taylor said.

He said there is no problem with the quality of the water produced at the treatment plant and assured residents that routine testing shows the water is safe to drink.

In fact, Taylor said, there is no turbidity problem.

“The turbidity is fine,” Taylor said. “This is an operational issue.”

He said the DEP’s concern is over the water entering the clearwell at the plant. According to Taylor, most plants have a single line through which water enters the clearwell. The line is scanned by a monitor that sounds an alarm if the water turbidity becomes too dense and could indicate impure water entering the well.

The Brackenridge treatment plant, however, is an older plant and has six lines that enter the clearwell, but each line does not have a monitor, Taylor said. That makes DEP officials uncomfortable, he said, and they came up with the consent agreement to try to get the borough to resolve the issue.

“They did an inspection last fall. And even though they were aware of it for years and years and years, now they don’t like it,” Taylor said.

Solicitor Craig Alexander said the agreement has not been finalized, as the borough is trying to work out “technical issues” with the DEP.

According to Taylor, “issues” refers to negotiating with the DEP to avoid having to put monitors and alarms on each of the six lines.

Council President Tim Connelly said that could be an expensive proposition and one that might not be necessary since the borough already has begun preparations to completely renovate the water plant.

“When we revamp the plant, this will all go away,” Connelly said.

Taylor said the renovation likely will begin in the next one to two years, depending on financing from PennVEST.

Until then, he hopes DEP officials will accept a weighted average of the turbidity measured from each of the six lines.

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