Progress on the borough's new water filtration system, and lack thereof, were the main topics of discussion at Tuesday's Walnutport Authority meeting.

The water filtration system, which has been 10 years in the planning and development stages, was hoped to be operational before the end of this year, the Walnutport Authority said at last month's meeting. However, since then not much progress has been made by the project's electrician, Barry J. Hoffman Co., out of Allentown, members said.To that end, borough engineer Jason Newhard said he would like to schedule a job conference with Hoffman, "so I can get a written record of where we're going."The new filtration system is located at one of the borough's old, existing water sources on Alder Drive, just north of Kmart, that has not been online for a number of years.At October's authority meeting, it was noted that the water filtration plant had arrived on palettes back in September, had been assembled, and was simply in need yet of the electrical work being completed."What I want now is a written record of scheduling so we can nail them down … (to) a completion date," Newhard said, adding that he wants the electrician's work to be "substantial in December."It was agreed that the job conference with Hoffman would be tentatively scheduled for next Monday, Nov. 18, at 2 p.m. at borough hall.Newhard, along with systems manager Michael Newhard, said that the system's general contractor, Bellview Pump Sales & Services of Walnutport, has paved both the driveway and the parking area at the system site plus installed a chain-link fence. This has led to "substantial completion now on all the exterior work", said Michael Newhard.However, "Keith (of Bellview Pump) has done as much as he can do now … with no real schedule nailed down (from the electrician)," borough engineer Jason Newhard noted about the site work.The authority, which is charged with operating, maintaining and setting the rates for the borough's water and sewer systems, has said the new plant will almost double the borough's water capacity by processing up to a quarter million more gallons per day, though it will not run all the time.Chairman Ron Kuntz said at October's meeting that the authority expects to soon have out a media press release about the new filtration plant and to invite local TV stations to attend its impending formal public announcement.