NARROWSBURG, NY — The Upper Delaware Council is attempting to press for PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) action to stop holiday weekend sewage spills from the Masthope Mountain Community.

Officials say the smelly overflows, usually on long Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends, annually prompt complaints from other property owners and river users.

After several months of discussion, the panel approved a letter to the state agency at their January 8 meeting.

The council’s letter to DEP Northeast Regional Director Michael Bedrin said, “According to numerous testimonials from neighbors, river guides, local officials, visitors and river users, the Masthope waste water treatment plant (WWTP) has been believed to discharge untreated or semi-untreated effluent resulting in strong odor, murky gray water, high fecal coliform bacteria counts, and increased specific conductance. This tends to occur more frequently on high volume, holiday weekends when there is increased visitation to the Masthope Mountain Community development served by the WWTP.”

The issue has been sticky for the river panel, in light of a similar complaint and DEP action in Beach Lake. In that case, DEP wound up fining the township, which has initial oversight over local sewage facilities.

Dingman Township had a similar long-running dispute with the Lake Adventure Campground.

The National Park Service has been sampling baseline and weekend water samples near the outflow on the Lackawaxen River, near its confluence with the Delaware. DEP has been called about earlier complaints, but has not responded in time to sample the effluent and nothing has changed.

The letter provided background history. “In the mid-1990s, because of documented problems with discharge due to over-capacity, an equalization tank was required to store excess wastewater for processing. As the community continues to grow, with new residences added annually, we speculate whether the WWTP will be able to accommodate the increasing development in 2015 and beyond.”

The UDC asked for regular DEP oversight urging “the agency to routinely monitor the facility’s discharge on holiday weekends, during odd hours, when the discharges are noticeable and nauseating.”

Further, UDC requested that, “If the PA DEP is currently monitoring during holiday weekends, we would like to know the process and parameters of the monitoring and any enforcement policies.”

In other business at the meeting, the UDC elected 2015 officers. Berlin Township’s delegate, Alan F. Henry will serve as the 2015 chairperson at the non-profit organization.

UDC delegates Susan Sullivan, of the Town of Tusten, and Jeffrey R. Dexter, of Damascus Township, were elected vice-chairperson and secretary-treasurer, respectively.

All three will be sworn in by Magisterial District Judge Ronald J. Edwards at the UDC’s next monthly meeting on February 5.