Lower Towamensing Township plans to submit its Highway Occupancy Permit application for its central sewage facility by October.

A brief update on the township’s central sewage facility was given at the board of supervisors meeting on Tuesday.

The nature, scope and location of the plan is the entire township, with concentration on the Aquashicola, Walkton, Little Gap, Weiner Mobile Estates, and Red Hill Road portions of the township where malfunctions of existing on-lot sewage systems are present.

The plan’s major recommendation, or alternative No. 1, proposes for the Aquashicola/Walkton/Little Gap sections of the township to be provided with gravity lines, manholes and two pump stations with their associated force mains.

The system will connect to the existing Blue Mountain Ski Area wastewater treatment plant, which will be upgraded to account for the additional sewage flow.

The plant will continue to be owned and operated by the Tuthill Corporation.

The alternative also provides for the Weiner Mobile Estates and homes along Red Hill Road to connect to the Palmerton Borough wastewater collection system and be treated at the borough’s plant.

Various other alternatives are considered in the plan, such as the conveyance of sewage from Aquashicola, Walkton and Little Gap to the Palmerton wastewater treatment plant, construction of small flow sewage treatment facilities throughout the areas of need, and construction of community land disposal facilities.

The capital cost of implementing alternative No. 1 is estimated to be about $12,440,396.

Tapping fees of $4,000 per equivalent dwelling unit will be charged. Annual user costs are anticipated to be $942 per EDU. These fees are contingent upon receiving funding from the USDA Rural Development Agency.

How the project came to be

In January 2014, the then supervisors approved a wastewater treatment agreement with the Tuthill Corporation to provide sewage treatment to the township.

The project was put out for bid, but no bids were submitted.

The board agreed to negotiate privately with Tuthill, the operator of Blue Mountain Resort.

Tuthill will pay an estimated $1.485 million to construct a new plant. The cost for the township to hook up to the plant once it is constructed is $598,604.

In September 2013, the then supervisors agreed to advertise to bid the project, at which time township solicitor Jim Nanovic said the township was looking for a single entity to provide sewage treatment to the township.

Nanovic also said at that time that it would not be a township plant, but, rather a private plant, and that Blue Mountain Ski Area was eligible to bid on the project.

In July 2013, the Delaware River Basin Commission granted Blue Mountain permission to expand its wastewater treatment plant.

Where the project is headed

Since April, and moving forward, the township has been continuing with the design of the township’s sewage system.

In 2020, the plan is to adopt an on-low sewage management program ordinance.

The township plans to advertise for, and receive, bids, and then award a contract and provide a notice to proceed to contractor in 2021.

By 2022, the plan is to begin construction, adopt a mandatory sewer connection ordinance; adopt an ordinance setting forth computational methods of sewer rentals or charges, and setting fees for connections to the sewer system, along with setting the types of materials to be used for building sewers.

By May of 2023, construction is expected to be completed, and in June 2023, the plan is to begin connection of building sewers to laterals.

In June 2024, the plan is to complete the connection of building sewers to laterals, and in July begin final pavement restoration; and complete final pavement restoration.

Come March 2025, the plan is to perform as-built survey of all completed work, and in May submit as-built plan and NPDES permit notice of termination to Carbon County Conservation District and DEP.

In January 2026, they will begin evaluation and update of Act 537 Plan as necessary.

In December 2016, the township obtained an approval letter from the Department of Environmental Protection of the official townshipwide sewage facilities plan update revision (Act 537 Planning) which proposed the sewage system to correct all problems related to sewage in the township, and consists of three separate projects.

Those projects involve Weiner Mobile Estates, Red Hill Road, and the Aquashicola-Walkton-Little Gap system.

It includes a short gravity sanitary sewer line connecting the Weiner Mobile Estates to the Palmerton Borough sanitary sewer system; several hundred feet of gravity sanitary sewer line and manholes connecting five homes on Red Hill Road to a proposed small Pumping Station that will tie in to the Palmerton Borough sanitary sewer system; and a system of gravity lines, manholes and two pumping stations in the Aquashicola-Walkton-Little Gap system with their associated force mains that will convey wastewater to the Blue Mountain Ski Area wastewater treatment plant owned and operated by the Tuthill Corporation that will need to be upgraded.

In August 2017, design of the sewage system began.