West Penn Township has joined neighboring Walker Township in forwarding its revised sewage facilities plan to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

By a unanimous measure, West Penn Township's board of supervisors on Monday adopted a resolution for its Act 537 plan submission to DEP.Before the vote, the board asked solicitor Holly Heintzelman if she would recommend approval of the resolution.Heintzelman said that according to Charles Myers, engineer from Rettew Associates Inc., the plan would be acceptable.One of the requirements of the plan per DEP is that the township has an on-lot septic maintenance ordinance in place.In January, officials from both municipalities conducted a joint meeting to review the plan, and to discuss any additional comments before submission to DEP.Both townships agreed then to table the adoption of resolutions on the plan, and instead requested a meeting with DEP and the West Penn/Walker Township Joint Sewer Committee, and to discuss a time extension with DEP.At that time, Myers said the next step was for both townships to adopt their ordinances.Everything after the submission is based on DEP's approval of the plan.Myers said the preferred plan is an on-lot disposal system because there are no big infrastructure costs.Walker Township engineer Dave Horst previously said there were 30 units, 24 in West Penn, and six in Walker, that the plan identifies as potentially needing a community on-lot sewage disposal.He said of the units in West Penn, 12 are in South Tamaqua, six in Andreas, four in Clamtown, and two in Snyders; while the remaining six are in Reynolds in Walker.As part of that plan, the 30 residences would either repair or replace their current system.DEP wants a solution presented in the plan for every user. If there are any users that cannot do on-lot systems, they have to have access to a community system.