New life was breathed into the sewer line project in Lower Towamensing Township in 2023 when ARRO Engineering took over the project.

The project, which has been in the works for decades, hit a wall with Carbon Engineering. The company was not able to move the project forward, so the township hired ARRO.

In July, Douglas Kopp, a civil engineer with ARRO, reported to the supervisors that the sanitary sewer project would cost $13.6 million. At the time, Kopp suggested eliminating some of the pipes and using grinder pumps. He estimated both of these would cut costs by about $500,000.

Kopp explained that a low-pressure sewer system uses gravity to move wastewater from the house. If the house is located below the main sewer line, a grinder pump outside of a house creates the pressure needed to move the wastewater.

The main sewer line would run down Little Gap Road with about 500 houses connected to it. In that July supervisors meeting, it was said that all houses within 150 feet of the main sewer line would be required to connect to it. The 150 feet would be measured from the closest part of the house to the sewer line, not where the sewer leaves the house.

By November, the township was still at an impasse with Carbon Engineering. The company was refusing to release computer-aided design drawings to the new engineering company. Without the drawings, the work has to be replicated by ARRO, which could take a long time.

The supervisors authorized Kopp to reach out to Carbon County for GIS mapping information. Kopp can use this data to work around the problem, which is still an involved process that could take several months but not as long.

The township is still pressing Carbon Engineering for the work results it created for the township.

“The township is still reviewing designs and doing value engineering on the project with anticipation of moving forward with completion of designs by the end of winter,” said Brent Green, the chairman of the supervisors.