The Susquehanna River Basin Commission Monday held its quarterly business meeting in Harrisburg, Pa. Among its actions, SRBC:

-- Approved 21 water withdrawal and consumptive use applications, tabled 7 applications, rescinded 2 previously approved dockets (see lists below);

-- Accepted settlement offers from Furman Foods, Inc., and Carrizo (Marcellus) LLC for compliance matters;

-- Approved amendments to the Regulatory Program Fee Schedule;

-- Adopted the FY 2014-2015 Water Resources Program;

-- Approved the release of the draft updated Comprehensive Plan for Water Resources of the Susquehanna River Basin for public review and comment, set a comment period to run through August 26, 2013 and scheduled a public hearing for August 15, 2013;

-- elected new officers with the Federal jurisdiction, represented by Brig. General Kent Savre, serving as Chair and New York State jurisdiction, represented by James Tierney, serving as Vice Chair; and

-- adopted the FY-2015 budget.

SRBC’s voting commissioners and alternates were: Dr. Robert Summers, SRBC Chair and Secretary, Maryland Department of the Environment; Colonel Trey Jordan, SRBC Vice Chair and District Engineer, Baltimore District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Kelly Heffner, Deputy Secretary for Water Management, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection; and Kenneth Lynch, Director, Region 7, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation.

SRBC also reported on upgrades to the agency’s Early Warning System (EWS), which was first established in 2003. The EWS program is for public water suppliers in Pennsylvania and New York with intakes on the Susquehanna River and major tributaries. Currently, the participating water suppliers represent more than 850,000 customers.

The EWS program helps minimize impacts to water supplies when spills occur through data sharing and enhanced communication among water supplies, emergency response personnel and water management agencies.

A list of projects considered at the meeting is available online.

7/1/2013