The Jim Thorpe Municipal Authority received good and bad news from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources.

The good news was a commendation the authority received for its west side water filtration plant "providing safe water" by meeting all maximum contamination levels with its monitoring and treatment techniques during 1993.The bad news came in the form of a DER civil penalty assessed on the authority because its sewage treatment plant, upon testing, showed a pH level of the water it discharges into the Lehigh River as being below the department's permissible level for about 10 days.Reports showed the pH level of discharged water plunged to 4.5 on one day and between 5-6 on others, all below thelevel allowed.