EPA rules force study of Birmingham sewer plant

Posted by Rich Schwartzman on December 7, 2011

Birmingham Township supervisors
are trying to get a jump on new EPA guidelines by spending $1,500 on a study of
the township’s wastewater treatment plant.

Supervisors John Conklin and
Bill Kirkpatrick voted during the Dec. 5 board meeting to authorize the study
to be conducted by URS, the company that operates the plant. Supervisor AL Bush
was absent.

Bringing the plant into
compliance of the new regulations could lead to an increase in user fees, but
how much of an increase or when it would happen are undetermined. About 400
township households are currently connected to the plant. The user fee is $125
per quarter, according to township secretary Quina Nelling.

Conklin called the need for the
study “another unfunded mandate.”

Kirkpatrick said the study is
just the first phase in bringing the plant into compliance with regard to the
nitrogen content of treated wastewater discharged into streams. Other studies
would follow. Then the plant would have to be upgraded.

“That will require a physical
change to the plant and probably an increase to the asset,” he said.

The current discharge would
have to be treated again, he said, and then be re-aerated so there would be
adequate oxygen in the treated wastewater.

Kirkpatrick said the various
studies have be finished by the beginning of 2013 and construction finished by
2015.

“While it’s not right around
the corner, with the studies and construction, we have to get going,” he said.

He was asked whether the
changes would lead to an increase in user fees.

“One of the highest
consumptions of energy at the plant are the blowers. We have four blowers there
[and] usually one or two are blowing all the time. So, from an asset
standpoint, we might have to add to the asset. I suspect we’ll have to put
another tank in and if we have operating costs they’re going to go against
whatever the charges are, so it’s highly likely that this will have an impact
on the sewer fees,” Kirkpatrick said.

He added that he has no idea at
this time what the change in rate might be, but thinks it would be “relatively
modest.”

About Rich Schwartzman

Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.