Delmont seeks state grant funding for sewage, stormwater projects

With Delmont officials staring down the barrel — or pipe, perhaps — of millions of dollars in sewage projects, along with other state-mandated pollution reduction work, the search for grants is on.

Borough engineer Kevin Brett recommended getting the application process started for two potential grants offered by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.

One would be to DCED’s PA Small Water and Sewer program, to pursue a grant that could help fund about $400,000 in work along Tollgate Lane. Brett said the grant would require a roughly $60,000 match from the borough.

The other would be to DCED’s H2O grant program, established in 2008 to help fund sewer and water projects statewide. Brett advised looking into an H2O grant to help offset the potential $3 million cost of an equalization tank to keep a combination of sewage and stormwater from overwhelming the borough’s system.

Before that project could even start, however, the borough must resolve a legal battle to invoke eminent domain and secure a permanent easement on private property in neighboring Salem Township. Members of the Rock Springs Trust, which owns the property, are challenging the proposed takeover.

Fixing sewage overflows is the goal for one of two consent orders Delmont is under from the state Department of Environmental Protection. Part of the consent order process has also involved smoke and dye testing throughout the borough to identify illegal storm water connections and defects in the sewage system and laterals running to private property.

Borough Public Works chief Bill Heaps said the work that needs to be done on Tollgate Lane is mostly because of the discovery of Grade 5 defects — the worst kind on the 1-5 scale — along the line.

“The sewage lines down there are all very close to the homes,” Heaps said. “They’re all grade 5 defects, and the pipes are only 10 feet off the houses in some places.”

Brett said the Tollgate lines, installed more than three decades ago, were not built to handle the flow it receives.

“The pipe in there was not built to specifications, even for 30 years ago,” he said.

Pollution reduction projects

Council voted unanimously at its meeting this week to authorize a short-term $79,000 loan as they begin paying off a $500,000 storm water project in the wooded area between Dogwood and Stotler drives, near Newhouse Park.

The borough’s state-approved pollution reduction plan calls for the removal of 36,000 pounds of sediment each year. The stormwater detention pond planned for a wooded area between Dogwood and Stotler will account for more than 6,500 pounds toward that total.

Councilman Stan Cheyne said that, rather than taking out a half million dollar loan, council opted to borrow “enough money to continue paying off the project and have our accounts remain liquid.”

Additional pollution reduction projects have been identified along Lindsay Lane and the Barrington Ridge development, as well as a future stream restoration project estimated to remove nearly 15,000 pounds of sediment.

2023 budget

Council also voted unanimously to advertise its $1.89 million budget for 2023. The budget does not call for a tax increase. It will be adopted at council’s December meeting or at a special meeting before the end of the year.