Nov. 3--SELINSGROVE -- After taking quick action to decrease high levels of contaminated sewage that threatened a $1.5 million cleanup bill, Selinsgrove borough officials are beginning to see the fruits of their labor.

The borough has seen a 45 percent drop in biological oxygen demands and a 60 percent drop in suspended solids traveling through the sewage system, compared to an average of the past 14 months, council member Shane Hendricks said during Monday night's meeting.

"We're not totally where we need to be, but we're certainly moving in the right direction," he said.

The Eastern Snyder County Regional Authority previously had said it would begin to bill the borough at the beginning of next year for costs of sewage cleanup unless the sources of the problem were detected and the problem resolved.

All borough businesses, including churches, have been visited and made aware of the necessity of grease traps, said John Bickhart, borough manager.

"We found many that should (have grease traps), but don't," he said, adding that requiring them is not a major economic burden. They can be installed for about $400, he said.

Twenty-three small business inspections were conducted, and 14 of those sites did not have the traps, Hendricks said.

One business on Industrial Park Road was found to have "very high levels of wastes going into the sanitary system," Bickhart said.

The regional authority investigated the wastewater in this particular drainage area for two years and determined that cheese likely is being processed in the building. According to Bickhart, dairy products have high levels of biological oxygen demands.

The business owner, Marlin Grimes, said he would take steps to remove the processed whey from the discharge, Bickhart said.

Council members on Monday voted to spend up to $5,000 to install a metering pit at this food-processing industry location.

Members also voted to impose surcharges on businesses exceeding the allowable amounts of biological oxygen demands if the authority imposes surcharges on the borough.

At September's meeting, council members reported that if the sewage problem wasn't resolved soon, each taxpayer would be forced to share the burden for cleanup, paying about $2,000 extra in taxes next year.

In other business Monday, council members and Snyder County Library Executive Director Pamela Ross announced that the community library facility expansion and renovation project feasibility study has been completed. The majority of the 36 people interviewed voted to move forward with the plan as presented.

Council members Erik Viker, Joe Herb and Carol Handlan didn't attend the meeting.

-----

To see more of The Daily Item or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.dailyitem.com/.

Copyright (c) 2009, The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pa.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.