http://www.philly.com/inquirer/health_science/daily/20070613_Plan_to_bury_sewer_tank_divides_city_officials.html

 

Sewer-tank plan divides Council, city Water Department

By Jennifer Lin

Inquirer Staff Writer

BARBARA L. JOHNSTON / Inquirer Staff Photographer

Jim Ryan, a stream watcher for the Friends of Pennypack Park, walks through the park near Poquessing Creek, where the Philadelphia Water Department wants to build a sewage-overflow tank.

 

What's worse?

Living near a manhole that blows its lid during big storms, spewing raw sewage into the Poquessing Creek?

Or living next to an underground sewage holding tank the size of two stacked Olympic swimming pools?

It's a choice confronting residents of East Torresdale and a dilemma pitting some members of City Council against the Philadelphia Water Department.

The department has known since 2004 that a sewer line running parallel to the Poquessing Creek gets overwhelmed during heavy storms, sending a torrent of sewage directly into the stream.

That's a big no-no under the federal Clean Water Act.

The state Department of Environmental Protection or the Environmental Protection Agency could step in at any time to mandate action, department officials said.

The department's solution is to relieve the flow during heavy downpours by diverting up to 4.25 million gallons of sewage into an underground tank.

City Councilman Brian O'Neill, who represents the neighborhood near Holy Family University where the tank is planned, is rallying his Council colleagues against the idea.

Tomorrow, Council is expected to vote on a bill that would prohibit such sewer-overflow tanks within 1,500 feet of homes. The bill would cover O'Neill's district - the 10th - as well as the Sixth District, represented by Councilwoman Joan Krajewski.

The proposed tank would be buried in a parcel of creekside land within Fairmount Park, near a quiet neighborhood of rowhouses at Hegerman Street and St. Denis Drive.

The land is covered with a forest of old, tall trees. A bike path cuts through the area, and neighborhood youths use a deep section of the creek to swing off a rope into a swimming hole.

"I don't have a problem with the concept," O'Neill said. "The only question is where? It's too near homes."

Bozicek Ratomir, whose house is about 100 yards from the proposed tank site, is blunt. "Put that tank in your yard, not mine," he said.

The outcome of O'Neill's bill could affect the water department's ability to use underground tanks to manage the mounting, urgent problem of stormwater overflow.

The department is moving ahead with construction of a 3-million-gallon tank at Venice Island in Manayunk. Two others - the one in the far Northeast and one for Marconi Plaza in South Philadelphia - are being considered.

Though the bill in Council won't affect the Manayunk project, which is well under way, it could thwart the Northeast project and set a precedent for future projects like the one in South Philadelphia.

"The bill would take one of the tools out of our toolbox," said Debra McCarty, deputy commissioner of the water department.

In testimony last week before Council, Bernard Brunwasser, the water department commissioner, said the bill, if approved, "would limit our ability to protect public health."

Big storms, which happen more and more frequently, overwhelm the city sewer system. In older sections of the city, such as North and South Philadelphia and Washington Square, a noxious mix of sewage and runoff backs up into properties.

The water department said major storms happen six to 10 times a year. It said the underground tanks would fill up only at those times to take pressure off the system.

At a community meeting last week, water department officials said such underground tanks were used across the country.

McCarty said people already live with lines from their houses carrying sewage, as well as sewer pipes under roads. The underground tanks are "nothing more than a big sewer," she said.

"Granted, this is bigger and there are definitely potential concerns like odors, but . . . that is something that could easily be engineered out," McCarty said.

She said if the city didn't address the overflow problem, the state had the authority to step in and dictate its own solution.

"The state can say, 'Philadelphia, you're not solving the problem and this is what you have to do.' We'd lose any say in this," McCarty said.

She said the water department was paid to handle sewage from neighboring suburbs: Bensalem, Lower Moreland and Lower Southampton.

She said Lower Moreland and Southampton had agreed to contribute financially to a solution and that Bensalem had yet to make a commitment. In the meantime, the city has barred Bensalem from hooking up new sewer connections.

McCarty said the sewer line that overflows into the Poquessing is supposed to carry only sewage. A separate line carries runoff. But during heavy storms, groundwater seeps into the line. The situation is exacerbated by improper sewer connections in the suburbs and city, where pipes from homes or sump pumps are connected to the wrong lines, carrying runoff into the sewer line.

Jim Ryan, a stream watcher for the Friends of Pennypack Park, understands the complexity of the problem. Photos he took in April show sewage gushing up like lava from a manhole next to Nazareth Academy and Holy Family University.

"There's toilet paper and diapers coming out," he said. "You come here when we're under siege, it's bad.

"Environmentally, it's devastating. Something has to be done."