Many Parryville residents were upset during the monthly borough meeting Monday regarding the implementation of a new sewage treatment system in the town.

The Parryville Borough Council invited Sasha Earl, a representative from Orenco Systems Inc., to conduct a presentation on a potential new system for those in attendance.

Earl described Orenco as a company with a focus on small communities in need of affordable wastewater solutions.

His detailed presentation focused on Orenco’s product named Prelos which stands for Pressurized Liquid-Only Sewer. With this system, only solids would remain in the tanks on residents’ properties and liquids would go to a separate wastewater-treatment facility. These tanks would only have to be pumped every 10-12 years depending on the number of people in the household.

Although similar to residents’ current septic tanks, liquid wastewater would no longer go into tanks in their yards. Additionally, odor would be kept under control as a result of the pressurized system.

Many residents believed that the new sewage system was too similar to the one currently in place and wondered why they needed to pay for a new one at all.

President Cathy Hawk explained that the borough had no choice but to change the current sewage system. The Department of Environmental Protection had originally requested that the borough make this change over 20 years ago.

“I hear you guys saying that it’s no different than what we have currently, but it is because the state is saying that we need something more, so we don’t have a choice. We have to do something different than what is existing at everybody’s place right now.”

Earl estimated that the monthly fee for the system would be a cost of $30 per month. Council members also added that they were looking into obtaining grants to make this an affordable solution for everyone.

Orenco Systems is one of three sewage treatment options that Parryville currently faces. The other two options involve hooking up to the treatment plants of either Bowmanstown or Franklin Township, resulting in hookup fees and high monthly payments.

Residents at the meeting still expressed concern regarding a monthly fee given the demographics of the town and many people relying on fixed incomes.

Hawk said Orenco was one of the more affordable options though and that by keeping costs down, taxes would not be affected either.

“We are trying our best to keep costs down as much as we can so that we don’t raise taxes, right? So we haven’t raised taxes in 20-some years and because of that we’re looking at different options. Could we hook up to Franklin or Bowmanstown? Yep, but that would cost an exorbitant amount per month for everybody.”

After years of deliberation within the council, Hawk and other members believed Orenco to be a promising option for the community. However, upon request from attendees, Hawk said that she would invite representatives from Bowmanstown and Franklin Township to the next monthly meetings to explain the costs and hookup fees associated with their options.

Hawk remained confident in Orenco’s affordable cost though.

“If you hear about the other ones (options) you’ll say, ‘Why the heck aren’t we going with this one (Orenco)?’ That’s what’s gonna happen.”

Parryville’s next monthly meeting will take place at 7 p.m. on Aug. 16 at the fire company.