Costly Upgrades Coming

Even the “pay as you go” approach would be expensive.
As the Clarks Summit-South Abington Joint Sewer Authority plans for mandatory major upgrades at the Chinchilla treatment plant, it is spreading the word about big cost figures to come.
Clarks Summit Borough Council recently heard authority director Robert Davis and chairman Joseph Guzek, who is also a borough representative on the authority, give a preliminary outline of financial projections.
Household incomes within the service area of Clarks Summit, Clarks Green and South Abington Township may exclude the possibility of grants for the work, Guzek said. Additionally, state grants “need to be shovel-ready,” he said.
Davis said the joint sewer authority will know more about project expenses and funding options in January or February. Then the authority will have a better handle on the cost of various options, such as pay as you go, bank financing or a bond issue.
“We don’t want to bring a difficult pill back,” Guzek said.
Whatever the three municipalities decide, “It has to be unanimous,” he said.
Clarks Summit’s share of the cost would be 35.61 percent, based on its equivalent dwelling units, a measurement used for sanitary sewer purposes.
There were some bright spots:
* A settlement with the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will save $4-5 million, Davis said.
The DEP agreed to increase the limits on the treatment plant’s output of nitrogen and phosphorous, thus correcting a previous licensing discrepancy.
* After state-mandated Act 537 sewage treatment plan work is done, the DEP will reimburse the authority for half of those costs.
* Grant money may still be possible. Davis said the next round of grants will be awarded in the fall of 2010.
“We’re evaluating if pushing ahead would be worthwhile,” he said.
The proposed plant expansion, which will further increase treatment capacity, will also meet Chesapeake Bay pollution-reduction requirements. Treated effluent from the plant enters Leggetts Creek, which eventually drains into the Chesapeake Bay.
The authority plans to begin construction in October 2012, have the expansion operational by July 2014 and the plant in full compliance by fall of 2016.






  
 

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