October 2003 Consent Order and Agreement

            In October 2003, Millcreek and the Millcreek Township Sewer Authority entered into a Consent Order and Agreement (COA) with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PaDEP) to resolve issues relating to operations of the sanitary sewer system, particularly near the Kearsarge Sewer Station.

            In 1992, the Township and the Sewer Authority entered into a COA which called for a variety of improvements to the sanitary sewer system, all of which had been completed before 2003. The ultimate objective of the 1992 COA was to make improvements to the system that would result at a later date in termination of the bypass which has discharged sanitary sewerage into Walnut Creek. The bypass was created years ago to protect homes in the Kearsarge area from backups of sewage when the capacity of the sewer system was being exceeded. This situation generally arose after storm events when substantial volumes of storm water have infiltrated the sanitary sewer system.

            Projects to address obligations under the 1992 COA included the flood detention basin near Chestnut Hill School, storm sewer upgrades in the Kearsarge area, projects to dredge and increase the capacity of Beaver Run Creek and a major upgrade in sewer lines down Pittsburgh Avenue.  All of these projects were completed.

            Advances in technology since the early 1990' s enable a sewer system to better identify volumes and sources of stormwater flows into the sanitary sewer system.  Improvements called for in the 1992 COA were designed and approved before the extent of infiltration of storm water through unlawful connections to the sewer system was known.

            With better technology, the extent and impact of flows of storm water into the sanitary sewer system could be detected.  By 2003, Millcreek and the Authority recognized that, on average, about 25% of flows in the sanitary sewer system are storm water and that this percentage dramatically increases after storm events. The principal source of these storm water flows is unlawful connections of storm water discharge into the sanitary sewer, from sump pumps, downspouts, floor drains and the like.

            The October 2003 COA prescribed action intended to terminate the Kearsarge bypass.  The Township and the Sewer Authority committed themselves to improvements which would increase capacity of the Kearsarge Sewer Station.  Improvements to the Station were made.  Two large retention facilities were constructed to retain sanitary flows after storm events until the system could properly convey them.

            Capital improvements could only do so much.  The significant flows of clean or storm water into the sanitary sewer system did not simply overwhelm the system’s capacity after storm events. There is no need to treat storm water.  When it is connected to the sanitary system, it ends up being conveyed to the sewage treatment plant for treatment - and users of the system pay substantial costs for that - hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.

            Recognizing that only reduction in flows of clean water into the system could ensure that it can operate as designed and that the status quo was costing system users a lot of money, the Millcreek and the Authority, in the 2003 COA, committed to establishing a program to terminate unlawful connections of clean water into the sanitary sewer system.  That system was put in place in early 2004 and continues.

            All improvements required by the COA were completed promptly.  The Kearsarge bypass was terminated in March 2007.  No discharges into Walnut Creek have occurred since the retention facilities were completed.  In 2009, the PaDEP approved termination of limits on new connections under the 2003 COA because their objectives had been met.  In addition, termination of clean water flows into the system has significantly reduced incidents of backups in homes and flows in the sanitary sewer system generally.