At municipal meetings last week, representatives from Hydraterra gave a presentation on the importance of Marlborough and Green Lane working in unison on an Act 537 plan for the Green Lane-Marlborough Joint Authority sewer plant.

            Hydraterra Sewer Engineer Joe Boldaz explained that PA Sewage Facilities Act 537 requires municipalities to develop and maintain sewage facilities that protect public health and the environment. Green Lane and Marlborough have never had a specific plan but were covered by a generic 1972 Montgomery County plan.

            The borough and township are in the vast minority of areas without a plan and this is quickly becoming a critical issue as the GLMJA sewer plant needs serious upgrades. Business and residential expansion could be negatively impacted by the lack of a plan.

            "[The current plan] certainly doesn't address your needs as a municipality," Boldaz told the Marlborough supervisors on Wednesday, Sept. 10. He explained that a 537 plan assesses the current infrastructure, including the public sewer system, and the township's on-lot systems.

            Boldaz also noted that a 537 plan would allow the township to coordinate future growth desires of the board and the entire community and he stressed that the 40-year-old Green Lane treatment plant is at the end of its useful lifespan.

            The engineer said that the effluent pumping station is built within the floodplain of the Macoby Creek and related that heavy storms that caused flooding in the area have "undermined some of the structures that are there."

            The sewer engineer showed slides of a "significant crack" in the station, crumbling concrete, and a cracked sludge holding tank. Boldaz also noted that much of the system's vitrified clay pipe (VCP) is cracked or penetrated by roots attracted by nutrients in the wastewater.  Of the 43,000 linear feet of pipe in the system, approximately 65 percent has failed and is leaking, according to Boldaz. He also said that 50 percent of Marlborough Township has poor-draining soil.

            "Without a plan we're kind of just throwing darts in the dark."

            The plant is currently subject to a corrective action plan and corrective management plan by order of the PA Department of Environmental Protection. The authority must submit a yearly report to the DEP detailing the remedial process.

            The orders also limit the equivalent dwelling units that can be assigned to new developments and businesses. Currently 22 EDUs are available. A proposed business development on Upper Ridge Road made a preliminary request for 21 EDUs, leaving only one EDU for other expansion projects under current conditions.

            Ninety percent of Marlborough relies on private sewer systems, while the opposite is true for Green Lane Borough. With the township relying on wells for its drinking water, poorly maintained private septic systems are a concern because nitrates and fecal coliform leaking from them could taint well water.

            In an Act 537 plan, on-lot systems are addressed through a sewer management program that requires routine maintenance of on-lot systems. Boldaz said questionnaires and education were key parts of the plan. A homeowner would be required to pump a holding tank every three years, and it would have to be monitored.

            Supervisor Bill Jacobs was irked by Boldaz's suggestion that inspectors would monitor individual homeowners. "Just requiring people to have their tanks pumped, that doesn't solve the problem."

            Later in the discussion, Jacobs argued that the "real problem was the drain field" and that there were alternatives to mandatory tank pumping.

            Boldaz agreed that the other are other areas to address, such as baffle maintenance, but pumping the tank is the minimal step and "will get a lot of those failing systems back into compliance." He told Jacobs that, in his experience as an engineer, many factors are interrelated, but homeowners are often ignorant about the do's and don't's of using a septic system and public education and tank pumping are key components of maintaining a safe environment.

            "Most homeowners, all they really know, they have a tank in the ground," Boldaz said.

            The authority is on the hunt for grants to cover estimated costs of over $100,000. Municipalities with 537 plans "are more likely to get grant approval, especially if it is congruent with a comprehensive plan," said Boldaz.

            "It does help, in the end, with showing the full picture," said Kimberly DeRosa, a grant writer for Hydraterra. She stated that a PA Department of Community & Economic Development Act 13 grant would receive favorable consideration if the sewer authority, Green Lane and Marlborough "had unity on this."

            Act 13 is only for 537 projects, which gives smaller municipalities a greater chance of receiving funding on a yearly basis, according to DeRosa.

            Supervisor Brian Doremus, who also sits on the sewer authority board, told the meeting that repairs to the system, such as lining pipes, are already taking place.

            Jacobs, expressing concerns about the cost to the township, wanted to know why an Act 537 plan was being recommended if improvements are already underway.

            Boldaz responded that he is trying to use the plan to get funding in place for the future. If another tropical storm or hurricane floods the area, without improvements to the sewer plant's infrastructure, a large swath of the local environment is at risk for devastating consequences.

            "Why can't it be our own plan?" Jacobs asked.

            "Nobody came in and analyzed your plans specifically," Boldaz responded, reminding Jacobs that the PA DEP has serious concerns about the authority.

            "The state's going to be coming down on communities that don't have a 537 plan."