LowPro Twp. Manager Responds to Perkiomen Twp. Sewer Authority Vote

As , Perkiomen Township reversed its decision to support hiring an independent engineer, who would have worked on a  Lower Perkiomen Valley Regional Sewer Authority (LPVRSA) interceptor construction project.

The project will serve as a new wastewater treatment line for LPVRSA members, which include the townships of Lower Providence, Perkiomen, Skippack and Upper Providence, as well as Collegeville and Trappe boroughs.

The portion of the project concerning Lower Providence runs along the Perkiomen Creek, by Arcola Road, near .

According to the Patch report, this section of the project has become a contentious issue among the LPVRSA members, as Lower Providence officials and some residents would rather not have the interceptor there at all.

“Not going with an independent engineer was a mistake,” Richard Gestrich, Lower Providence Township Manager, said. “[The engineer] would look into the alternatives.”

According to Gestrich, Lower Providence has been pushing for having a sewer pump constructed, in lieu of an interceptor, since the project was proposed.

The Lower Providence Township website posted that the second of three interceptor construction phases were completed in 2007. According to the post, this current and final stage had an October 2011 estimated completion date.

Gestrich explained that an independent engineer would help in providing the LPVRSA with an actual cost analysis for the proposed sewer pump station.

Perkiomen Township Supervisor Richard Kratz, in the previous Patch report, noted that the construction of a sewer pump station could cost the LPVRSA between $8.5 – 10-million, with an annual operating cost of $300,000.

Gestrich said that Skippack Township engineers recently provided him with alternative estimates.

According to Gestrich, an Arcola Road Pump Station may cost $3.5 million, with $150,000 in annual operating costs.

“That goes to show you that no one has done a cost-analysis of how much this pump station would cost,” Gestrich said.

Gestrich further explained that the pump station would prevent environmental and historical damage from the construction of an interceptor. He said that the Hoy Park may be considered a valuable archeological site at the state level.

In addition to reversing its vote, that the LPVRSA will also send out a letter to certain local officials that publically supported Lower Providence’s preferred course of action. In the letter, LPVRSA asked the local officials to stop interfering with the interceptor project.

Despite these recent setbacks, Gestrich said that the the LPVRSA might yet seek an alternative to a sewer interceptor.

“It’s still not too late, and we hope that they do,” Gestrich said.