Scalp Level seeks sewage fix

BY RANDY GRIFFITH
The Tribune-Democrat

SCALP LEVEL May 11, 2008 11:28 pm

— For at least 30 years, Richard King has been paying sewer bills for his family home along Main Street.
All that time, it turns out, King’s and five other residences were dumping raw sewage into a storm sewer that empties into Paint Creek.
Now the borough is under the gun to clean up its act, and King is afraid he and his neighbors will be hit with that bill too.
“They are going to make us pay,” King said at last week’s council meeting. “They never put in that sewer line. I paid all those years for that sewer line.”
King is a Borough Council member and is also the property owner who pushed for testing that showed the illegal connections.
Council Vice President Andy Roman said the borough is weighing its options.
“We know we have a problem,” Roman said.
“We know we have to do something. We are not turning a blind eye to it.”
Borough Solicitor Nicholas Banda reviewed the issue and laid out several options in his written response.
Windber Area Authority contends the sanitary sewer line serving the properties was destroyed in the 1977 flood, Banda said. If the authority is right, the borough “may have the sole responsibility to replace the sewer line,” he wrote.
Borough engineers with the EADS Group outlined options to install a new line. The borough could pay for construction or share the cost with property owners, according to Banda.
Another option would be to construct a small sewage treatment system for the five properties. Each property owner could be required to put in a septic system, Banda wrote, noting that might not be possible on the small lots.
Residents’ sewer payments include two parts. Windber Area Authority gets the lion’s share for treatment costs, while Scalp Level Borough gets about $30 a year from each customer for collection costs.
“When you put that (new) line in, my sewer is paid for,” King demanded.
It isn’t that simple, Banda stressed, saying he hasn’t seen any records showing who made the illegal storm-sewer connections.
“It’s not clear cut,” Banda said. “When you tap into a sewer line, you are required to tap into the correct line.”
Borough officials and Windber Area Authority leaders never realized the homes were not connected, he said.
Authority manager Dennis Mash said he is meeting with borough leaders this week to discuss options, costs and funding. Authority Solicitor James Cascio said the two groups hope to find an agreeable solution.