Lehighton didn’t take any action this month on an amendment to its sewer ordinance to redefine and regulate connections to the public sewer system.

Borough secretary Brenda Kreitz has been getting a lot of calls from Realtors saying they can’t find the exact wording in the ordinance requiring splitting sewer lines at the sale of a property.

Borough solicitor Jim Nanovic said the borough’s sewer ordinance does provide that residents need to have separate lines; however, there are a number of houses in the borough that have common lines, and can the same be done as the water ordinance with sewer.

Kreitz said this has been the practice, and added the borough isn’t charging residents a tapping fee - if the main is right there with a clean out, there is no charge.

However, if there is no lateral, then the borough charges for Public Works to install a lateral and connection to the main, which is usually a few hundred dollars.

That way, each house is separate. There is also the cost of the plumber.

There is a $50 permit fee for doing sewer work.

Nanovic said “it is an expense.”

Councilman Donnie Rehrig said his sewer line goes out to the alley, and that he would have 180 feet of pipe to split his.

Nanovic said that’s true, and the Realtor said it’s hard to get a plumber these days and it could delay the sale of the house.

Still, Rehrig wasn’t completely convinced this would be the way to go.

“There’s a lot to think about before we say ‘let’s do this’. It’s going to be a big expense,” Rehrig said.

Nanovic added that it would be similar to the water line ordinance, which was adopted last year.

Former borough Manager Steve Travers, who was let go following an executive session later in the evening, explained the rationale behind having a separate sewer line.

Travers said today’s building code doesn’t allow for shared lines, and added that the benefit to separating the sewer line is that if sewage is backing up into a basement but the pipe is on the neighbor’s side, the odds of them helping to fix the problem is low because they aren’t the ones having the issue.

“It’s so hard to get two neighbors together,” Travers said. “Who do you hold responsible for it is where it becomes tricky.”

Councilman Ryan Saunders said the concept sounds ideal on paper.

“In a perfect world, I think each house would have its own water and sewer (line),” Saunders said.

Rehrig added, “There’s a lot of different circumstances you could run into.”

Council adopted a water line ordinance last year.