Local Leaders Halt $14M Sewer Plant Project Plans

Several council members in Chester Hill and Decatur Township are trying to halt plans on a proposed $14 million upgrade project with the Moshannon Valley Joint Sewer Authority.

Under new federal mandates aimed at keeping the Chesapeake Bay clean, officials say hundreds of wastewater treatment plants located in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed need to abide by stringent new guidelines.

"To eliminate two particular nutrients from the wastewater, nitrogen and phosphates,” explained Decatur Township council member Andy Rebar. “That's important, there's no question about that. We exceed those currently, there's no question of that. To do that, to get them into that compliance, is a lot of dollars."

The proposed upgrade is expected to cost at least $14 million.

With no federal funding available, residents in Philipsburg, Chester Hill, Decatur Township and Morris Township would likely see a $500 increase in their first yearly bill.

Rebar told WJAC-TV Tuesday that council members didn’t notice the scope of the proposed mandates until they crunched all of the data.

Several people, including Chester Hill Councilman Michael Spearing, have ordered the township engineer to halt plans on the proposed project.

"We've instructed the engineer not to go any further forward with any further studies or designs,” said Spearing. “Until we can get our mental arms around the hold thing."

Spearing said council members are looking at all of the available options before allowing the engineer to do any more work on the proposed project.

With the current information available, Rebar says there doesn’t appear to be any guidelines set on the new recommendations yet.