Lake Adventure lots are soggy after sewer upgrade

DINGMAN - Lake Adventure has installed a new sewer system at a cost of $1.6 million, but some residents say the upgrade has created new problems. Some 20 low-lying residential properties in the 1,700-lot trailer park on State Route 739 are now faced with water running along the new sewer pipes, which were installed on top of a bed of stone. The effluent surfaces, where the sewer pipes come out of the ground, are on some of these lots. John Dobrovich, an owner for over 19 years, stepped up to the microphone at last Saturday’s property owner’s association meeting and aired his complaint. “I have water coming out from around the new sewer pipe, and it is flooding my lot. I am loaded with mosquitoes, the water is crumbling the cinder blocks that hold up my trailer, and the smell is like raw sewage,” said an unhappy Dobrovich. Dobrovich said his land had been dry for two decades before the new construction. “If you don’t do something I am going to sue the association. I didn’t have this problem before you put in the new sewer pipes,”he added. “We can’t solve the problem because we can’t touch the wetlands according to Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection,” answered Tom Annunziata, the association’s president. But Mark Carmon, a spokesman for the department, said there is a permitting process for working in wetlands, which involves a swap, creation of new wetland areas of equal or greater size, for any that would be disturbed. “That could be done through the Department of Environmental Protection or the Army Corps of Engineers,” he said. Dobrovich showed the Courier how the water flowed out of the ground at his trailer home. Dobrovich claims the storm water runoff follows the new sewer pipe underground and makes a swampy mess around his lot as it flows into the state wetlands just behind him. “The problem comes from in front of my lot and not from the wetlands behind me,” Dobrovich said. As far as post construction problems go, Carmon said the department normally does not do inspections during or following construction. “Following our the issuance of the (Part II) permit, the contractors are obligated to follow the approved design,” he said. Carmon said there is a route for complaint assistance, if the property owners’ association can’t help. “Start with the township, and then us, in that order.” In another issue at the Saturday meeting, the board faced concerns about the development’s electrical service. The electrical transmission panels are under great stress. “Some of the distribution panels designated to handle 400 amps overheat because over 500 amps are being drawn,” said Annunziata. This causes the main circuit breaker to trip, which takes time to fix. Annunziata said it takes up to an hour and a half for the breaker to cool down enough to restore power.