While the Coplay-Whitehall Sewer Authority (CWSA) continues to move forward with improvement projects, board Chairman John Schreiner expressed concern over a potential lease of Allentown's waste water treatment plant.

"For us it is a concern because we have nowhere else to go," he said. Allentown is considering leasing its wastewater treatment plant to reduce its financial deficit.

"We would prevent it if we could," said Schreiner.

Whitehall Township did pass a resolution opposing the sale of Allentown's wastewater treatment plant. Schreiner read the resolution at the Oct. 18 authority meeting. The uncertain future was a topic of concern raised by every member of the board and its attorney Jack Stover.

"We have contracts in place with Allentown and have no idea what will happen to those agreements," said Stover.

According to Stover, a 155-page, 50-year lease agreement for the Allentown plant valued at $150 million was presented to city council.

"We want to get a copy of the lease and review it," he said.

An increase in rates by Allentown will impact what customers pay in Whitehall and Coplay.

"Allentown is under the same EPA mandate that we are, but they haven't done much to comply. No one knows what the cost will be to meet the EPA's requirements, but those costs will get passed on," said Schreiner. Coplay and Whitehall have the lowest sewer rates in the area.

"We think we could be singled out for a bigger increase because our rates are low. A private owner won't give consideration for how well our system is run and the improvements we made to keep costs low," said Schreiner.

At present, nothing indicates what will happen with rates or how future revenues would be collected.

According to Stover, the CWSA does have a disagreement over $385,000 in billing from Allentown and the case is scheduled for an arbitration hearing.

According to Schreiner, CWSA and other authorities impacted by the potential lease meet regularly to explore what legal options are available to them and to assess the constantly changing situation.

"We need to be ready to react if something comes up that is potentially harmful," he said.

Darryl Jenkins, the authority's sewer engineer, reported that work is progressing on the Coplay Creek interceptor project. The purpose of the project is to reduce ground water infiltration into the system.

"Some of the pipes we pulled out of the ground showed evidence that they were leaking at the joints. It's a verification that the project will have an effect on the infiltration," said Jenkins.

The board also approved a payment to the Coplay Creek contractor, Joao & Bradley, based on Jenkins' progress report. The Route 22 project is also moving along well.

"We are out of the PennDOT right-of-way," said Jenkins. The progress will allow PennDOT to continue with road repairs. The project adds sewer capacity to retail stores in the mall area.

Board member Joseph Marx, who is charged with completing the EPA mandate for residential and commercial rain water infiltration, reported on the status of the program.

"We are about 70 percent complete. Most of the commercial properties are done and around 65 percent of the residential inspections are done," he said.

Homeowners who have not completed the inspections need to call to make an appointment. The EPA mandate requires all houses and businesses served by the sewer system be inspected.

"We would really like to get this done as soon as possible. The requests for inspections has fallen. It would be good if we could get the requests up and get this completed before the end of the year," said Marx.