Resolution 2025-07 on the Lehigh County Authority’s PA Sewage Facilities Act 537 amendment regarding the Kline’s Island Wastewater Treatment Plant plan was a major topic of discussion at the Lowhill Township board of supervisors meeting, Sept. 11.

Curt Dietrich, chairman, began the discussion by introducing Liesel Gross, CEO of Lehigh County Authority to discuss the resolution amendment.

“Today we’re talking about the very final step in approving a regional Act 537 plan which is a sewage facilities plan and how it relates to Lowhill Township,” Gross said. “We just want to be very clear that it is very strictly limited to the area that’s already served by public sewer in the Pointe West area, I think there’s 43 homes that are connected. Those 43 homes are connected by pipes through a network that transports the sewage to Allentown for treatment.”

She explained there are 15 municipalities that are all interconnected through that system.

“All 15 municipalities have worked together for the past six years or so to put together the Act 537 plan and the goal of the plan is to address the long-term needs of those 15 municipalities within the defined area of the sewer system and also to address aging infrastructure and wet weather impacts that we are having because of the age of the system,” Gross stated. “The plan includes some projects to upgrade pumping capacity at Kline’s Island, that is the treatment plant in Allentown along with pipe repairs throughout the whole system as it relates to Lowhill. Again it’s a very small impact because it is just those 43 homes that are connected.”

Gross said it is a fairly new system so there’s not a lot of repair or replacement that’s going to be required in Lowhill, but because they’re part of the greater regional system there’s a requirement that you participated in the Act 37 plan.

“Lehigh County Authority does own and operate that system so there’s really not anything for the township to do except be informed and provide guidance if you have any questions on what we’re doing for sewer service in your township,” she stated. “So the approval process to be clear even though LCA owns and operates the system, the Act 537 through Pennsylvania requires that the municipality be involved, so it is a municipal requirement to have a plan and to adopt the plan by resolution so that’s why it’s for you rather than for our board.”

The Lehigh County Authority board of directors has reviewed the plan and has approved it but they also need all townships that are involved, Gross said.

“So far we have 13 approvals out of the 15, so if you approve this tonight we’ll have 14 and then we have one more, so it has been very positively received so far by all municipalities. That’s a really high-level look,” Gross stated. “I think I’ve presented it in more detail at your planning commission and maybe some other meetings you may have attended.”

After speaking Gross answered questions from supervisor Mike Divers.

“Do you guys still have the problem basically down at Kline’s Island and yearly fines because it’s still not corrected,” Divers asked.

Gross responded.

“We have not been fined. There have been regulatory actions because of the excess flows from the rainwater getting into the cracked pipes and the manholes that sort of thing. We’ve had some problems with meeting permits, that’s part of the reason we have to have this plan but there actually have not been any fines,” Gross stated.

“Have those corrections been made to the pipes that are basically leaking as of right now,” Divers asked.

Gross again responded.

“Well it’s going to be a long process. We’re going to be working on that over the next 10 years and really we should be doing that the rest of the life of the system because it’s ongoing maintenance to find leaks and repair those leaks and you know as pipes age this is kind of what happens, so we’ll be working on it, we’ve been working on it,” Gross explained. “The flows have been addressed to some degree but if we have another wet season like we did in 2018 and 2019 we could have continued problems so that’s why we need to have this plan approved so we can keep the projects going and have Department of Environmental Protection’s approval for the projects.”

After Gross answered all questions from the board, Dietrich stated the Resolution 2025-07 plan which was prepared by ARRO Consulting provides for a sewage facility in a portion of Lowhill Township and how a flow characterization study is to be completed in 5 years for seven items and talks about the municipal agreement with Lowhill Township.

As previously reported by The Press in August, the resolution references Chapter 71 of Title 25 of the Pennsylvania Code and requires the municipality to adopt an official sewage facilities plan providing for sewage services adequate to prevent contamination of waters and/or environmental health hazards with sewage wastes, and to revise said plan whenever it is necessary to meet the sewage disposal needs of the municipality.

After further discussion, the board unanimously approved Resolution 2025-07, Lehigh County Authority’s PA Sewage Facilities Act 537 amendment.

In other business, Mike Siegel, township manager, during his report discussed the issue of the township having a yard waste facility.

“The board had asked me at its last meeting to look into the yard waste management facility for Lowhill Township, the possibilities of doing that,” he said. “I was in contact with a gentleman who runs the southeast regional area for the game lands the past week and a half ago. I had an extensive talk with him. I asked him how he would feel if Lowhill and or Heidelberg Township wanted to put a yard waste facility on the game lands property, for both municipalities, he reluctantly said no.”

Siegel said the gentleman apologized but said he couldn’t accept that because the policy of the game lands is that they will not accept any yard waste on their properties because they are worried about the invasive species on their game lands with weeds and other trees and ash trees and other things that are already affecting their properties now and they are spending a lot of money trying to control it.

“I guess this is one of those instances they would not ever permit a yard waste facility anywhere on their property, so the next step is to go over to North Whitehall Township and sit down with their township manager and look at maybe working something out with them in the long term,” Siegel stated.

Seigel said from the email that he received from their engineer that it would be sometime in the next year or so that they would possibly open that up to us for discussion, so that’s where we stand on that.

The board also under other business appointed Jeremy Schaller as the new emergency management coordinator, Rick Hughes to the open position on the UCC Board of Appeals and the law office of Michael D. Fiorentino as the new environmental attorney with a retainer of $2,500.

The board also announced during the meeting, Trick or Treat Night in the township will take place 6-8 p.m. rain or shine on Oct. 25.