West Penn Township and Walker Township officials have postponed the approval of the revisions to their Act 537 sewage facilities plan.

Both townships' boards of supervisors tabled the adoption of resolutionson the plan during a joint public meeting Monday at the Walker Township Municipal Building.Both boards requested to have a meeting with the Department of Environmental Protection and the West Penn/Walker Township Joint Sewer Committee, and to discuss a time extension with DEP.The purpose of the meeting was to discuss any additional comments submitted by the joint sewer committee, and to review and approve the revisions of the Act 537 plan for resubmission.Work on the West Penn Act 537 plan has been ongoing since 2003, when Ludgate Engineering Firm developed a community sewage plan with a $17 million price tag.On Oct. 18, 2013, DEP received theplan update that was prepared by Rettew Associates Inc., and incorporated the Ludgate Engineering Corporation's March 5, 2007, submission.The plan proposed a sewage management program for each municipality, and corrective cluster or small community on-lot sewage disposal facilitiesbut DEP kicked it back as incomplete.Rettew Associates, the engineering firm which is developing the plan, revised the plan and resubmitted it in November 2014, then West Penn Township solicitor Gretchen Stearns said. Typically, DEP responds in about two months, she said.After time elapsed, she contacted DEP and was told that the plan had been misplaced. Rettew resubmitted the plan.On Monday, West Penn Township Supervisor Anthony Prudenti questioned the costs associated."It seems to me like the plan that was submitted was incomplete," Prudenti said. "Whose fault is that, and why are we paying?"Engineer Charles Myers of Rettew Associates said there are essentially three options.One option is a community on-lot disposal system to each of the five areas at a cost of over $1 million. The costs would include the five systems, legal fees, engineering fees, property acquisition, as well as several contingencies.A second option is for multiple treatment plants to serve the five areas, which would cost substantially more.Another option is an on-lot disposal system where the 30 residences would either repair or replace their current system. That is the preferred option, said Myers, because there are no big infrastructure costs.Prudenti then offered his suggestion."Can't we have a meeting with DEP and plead our case with them and say our township can't afford a million dollars? It will bankrupt us."Walker Township engineer Dave Horst said there are 30 units, 24 in West Penn, and six in Walker, that the plan identifies as potentially needing a community on-lot sewage disposal.More specifically, Horst said 12 are in South Tamaqua, six in Andreas, four in Clamtown, and two in Snyders, all in West Penn, with the other six in Reynolds, in Walker.