A projected $10.67 million sewer project in Jim Thorpe is moving forward as borough council approved three motions Thursday night pertaining to the improvements.

The borough awarded contracts to Mechanicsburg-based Mr. Rehab Sewer System Rehabilitation for a $432,845.11 sanitary sewer cleaning and televising/manhole rehabilitation, and to Ovivo for an $847,000 IFAS system. IFAS is a fixed-film activated sludge process.Both actions were part of the larger improvement project which Kim Mazur, of Entech Engineering, said will update a 50-year-old treatment plant.Council also voted to advertise the main part of the project, but Mazur said a date when bids would be due back is still up in the air.The change from a contact stabilization to a biological nutrient removal process using the IFAS system will allow the plant to meet the more stringent monitoring and discharge criteria to be imposed by the Department of Environmental Protection and Delaware River Basin Commission for nitrogen and phosphorus removal."We'll also be removing nitrogen and upgrading the lift pump station," Mazur said when the project was first announced. "Ninety percent of the improvements will be at the treatment plant, but there are a few key pipes that need work throughout the town."Included in the project is the replacement or relining of approximately 4,500 linear feet of sanitary sewer line and manholes along Switchback Road and South Street within the borough to resolve inflow and infiltration problems.The current plant will remain in operation during the project.The plant currently services around 2,100 existing equivalent dwelling units or 1,866 total customers.Funding for the project is coming through Rural Development's water and environmental program.Of that, $6.129 million is a loan that will need to be paid back at 3 percent interest over 38 years, and a $4.549 million grant.