South Londonderry Twp. approves sewer plan that could lead to higher rates

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An $18.6 million wastewater treatment project could eventually lead to higher sewer rates for customers in South Londonderry Township.

Township supervisors approved a resolution for the Act 537 sewer facilities plan at the Oct. 14 meeting. The board discussed the resolution in September but a motion to approve then failed for lack of a second.

H. David Miller with Entech Engineering Inc. attended last month’s meeting to explain the plan to supervisors. He said this will be an approximately $18.6 million project to provide adequate wastewater facilities and monitoring. He said they are looking into grant opportunities, but sewer rates would still likely increase.

A draft of the plan, available on the township website, states that the South Londonderry Township Municipal Authority owns and operates four wastewater treatment plants in the township, and the Campbelltown East Wastewater Treatment Plant and the Campbelltown West Wastewater Treatment Plant “operate near their hydraulic treatment capacities and have little capacity to accommodate additional growth in the service area. The East and West WWTPs are also in poor condition and need significant immediate repairs to continue operations.”

The plan would redirect wastewater from the West plant to the East plant by constructing a pump station and force main at the existing West site to pump all of the wastewater received there over to the East plant. It also includes the demolition of the existing West and East WWTPs and the construction of a new and upgraded plant at the East WWTP location.

“There were several alternatives investigated,” Miller said in September.

The document estimates that construction costs would be $13.1 million, and total project costs would be around $18.6 million. Though the final impact on customers hasn’t been finalized, and the planning document is not intended to set user rates, the plan states that preliminary calculations show the plan will “impact the user rate by approximately $120 per [equivalent dwelling unit] per quarter” over a 20-year period.

Township manager John Eberly said the township is still in the beginning phases of the plan. Now that supervisors voted to adopt the plan, it will move on to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for approval.

“There’s some major changes that’ll have to happen, and it’ll be a several-year process and some large dollars of money that will be allocated to that,” he said. “We’re thinking that by March, April, we may hear back from them. In the meantime, we have our engineers of the authority going through some of the drawings.”

The rough schedule outlined in the draft plan estimates that the township would finalize the design in March 2027, go out to bid in April 2027, award the project in June 2027, start construction in July 2027, and complete construction in December 2029.

In other business, supervisors:

• Accepted John Horstick’s resignation from the zoning hearing board and approved a proclamation recognizing him for his years of service.
• Appointed Irene Bartolomei to fill the zoning hearing board vacancy.
• Approved the Campbelltown Fire call box changes.

The South Londonderry Township Board of Supervisors will have its next regular meeting at 27 W. Market St. on Nov. 12 at 7 p.m.