A grassroots civic group will hold a public event Sunday aimed at stopping a project to reclaim Old Forge borehole mine water on a large tract of land, part of which also is eyed for a massive data center.

The Lower Lackawanna Valley Citizens Alliance will host a forum Sunday from 1-3 p.m. at the Old Forge Fire Department at 375 Milwaukee Ave. in Old Forge to “Stop the Old Forge Pumped Storage Project.”

The Times-Tribune reported in February that this reclamation plan in the works for many years by Renewable Energy Aggregators Inc. of Pittston and Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina, aims to divert and purify polluted borehole water, returning clean water to the Lackawanna River and, in the process, also generating hydroelectric power. The plan proposes construction of two large reservoirs and a treatment/power plant facility in a 1,300-acre project area straddling Old Forge and Ransom Twp. in Lackawanna County and Duryea in Luzerne County, according to an application for a permit pending before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

None of the plant’s nearly 200-megawatt generation capacity is expected to go back to the grid, but instead would go to “an onsite, undisclosed location,” the civic group said.

In July, The Times-Tribune reported on a different developer’s plan to build a “hyperscale,” meaning massive, data center campus on part of the land proposed for the borehole pumped-storage hydroelectric project. The data center would go on land in Ransom Twp. near the Old Forge border. This data center developer, Mudiita Land Venture LLC, a Carbon County-based firm with a parent company in New Jersey, spent $2.4 million on 528.6 acres south of Ransom Road and west of South Keyser Avenue, according to a July 14 deed.

The civic group urged residents of Old Forge, Ransom Twp., Duryea, Taylor, Moosic and surrounding communities to attend the forum Sunday.

“This is an important issue for our community, and people deserve the opportunity to understand what is being proposed,” the group said. “The event is designed to give community members an opportunity to learn about the proposed project, become more informed about the project’s proposed location and scope and its potential environmental and health impacts.”