Bringing public sewer to parts of Lower Towamensing Township may not be possible as planned.

Brent Green, the chairman of the supervisors, said the feasibility of the project is in question.

“The project in 2016 was going to cost $14 million,” he said.

The revenue the township would bring in from the sewer line may be barely enough to cover the cost of the loan to build it. The sewer line would provide service to about 450 households, Green said.

“It may have to be built only for places that have serious malfunctions and property owners have no other recourse,” he said.

The sewer line project has been in the works since 1971, Green said. A 537 plan, which must be drafted for all municipal sewer projects, was rejected the first time it was submitted several decades ago to the state Department of Environmental Protection. A second 537 plan was withdrawn, and a third was accepted about five years ago.

The current plan for the sewer line has it providing service to Aquashicola, Walkton, Little Gap, Red Hill Road and Weiner Mobile Estates. The line is supposed to run along Little Gap Road and tie into the sewage treatment plant in Palmerton, as well as the Blue Mountain Ski Area Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The topic was brought up during the supervisor’s reorganization meeting on Jan. 3. A resident asked for an update on the sewer line project.

Supervisor Michael Takerer responded to the resident’s question.

“We’ve been unhappy with the progress of the last engineering firm that was assigned to work on it,” Takerer said. “And we’ve hired another firm to assess where we are with the project. They are in the process of looking at viability, the cost assessments, the original 537 plan, the current plan that has been worked on for a number of years, and they’re going to give us their opinion on it within the next month or two.”

The project had been with Carbon Engineering, and ARRO Consulting Inc. is reviewing it now for the township.

Another resident asked if public water is in the plan, too. Takerer said no; it’s just for sewage.