Property Owners Issue Cease and Desist Order to Delmont Borough

Below are photos presented to Delmont Borough council at its March 13 meeting that document intentional illegal discharges from the Borough's sewer system onto our property and into Beaver Run on a nearly unabated basis the week of February 16 to February 25. 

Following the presentation, my husband, Ed Rebitch, sought to engage Borough officials in a dialogue about these matters.

·      Noting that in periods of dry weather the Borough’s sewer system adequately contains sewage for transport to the treatment facility, and noting that during periods of wet weather the manholes on our property begin to discharge almost immediately during a rain event (indicating significant inflows of storm water into the system), Ed asked for specifics about the identification of Delmont property owners with illegal connections to the sewer system and corrective actions mandated by the Borough. He received the usual ambiguities:

                “We continue to ‘chase down’ the inflow.”

                “We are working with the DEP.”

                “We are waiting to learn what the DEP will mandate.”

·      Noting that, during times of manhole discharges on our property, the manholes on the neighboring Salem Township property through which the Borough’s sewer lines also run do not discharge, in spite of their lower elevation, Ed inquired whether our property was being specifically targeted for the Borough’s sewage surcharges. The response was an unqualified “No” from multiple Borough officials.

·       Having received that response, Ed later followed up with a request of Borough council that we be allowed to engage the services of an independent professional engineer to inspect the containment configurations of the manholes located on our property and on the neighboring property through to where the sewer lines terminate at the Cramer Pump Station. We received permission for such an inspection as long as Borough personnel were also in attendance.

·       That inspection and evaluation took place on Monday, March 19. In attendance were Ed, the independent professional engineer, Delmont Borough public works director Bill Heaps, public works crew member Chad Caldwell, and Borough council sewage committee co-chair Stan Cheyne.

·      During the course of the inspection, Mr. Heaps required specific tools to remove lockdown lids from the manholes located on the neighboring property in order for the engineer to perform his inspection. (A lockdown lid is secured beneath the manhole cover for purposes of preventing surcharges.) These same tools were not required for inspection of any of the manholes located on our property. With regard to the specific manhole featured on my Welcome! post of March 26, Bill Heaps noted that he forgot to secure the lockdown lid after a June 2017 televising of the gravity feed line. The lockdown lid for another manhole on our property, widely featured on social media and in the print press in 2017, is simply propped up against the manhole as recently as April 15 of this year:

Following his inspection, the independent engineer did verbally confirm to Ed that the Borough is configuring these manholes to direct sewage discharges specifically and only onto our property. We present here his written report dated April 10, 2018, in its entirety. His final paragraph:

“In conclusion, because of the high volume of inflow and infiltration during rain events, the existing capacity of the sewer line is not sufficient to carry the flow. By intentionally removing the watertight lockdown lids from the Manholes located on the property owned by the [Rock Springs] Trust discharge relief points have been created. These relief points allow for the system to discharge untreated sewage onto the Trust property and into nearby streams during rain events.”

On March 23, 2018, the owners of the property affected by Delmont Borough’s intentional sanitary sewer system discharges hand delivered to the Borough offices an order to the Borough to cease and desist its illegal activity relevant to our property. The letter was also sent that day via email to all members of council and to Delmont Borough solicitor Daniel J. Hewitt of McDonald Snyder, Latrobe, PA.

Delmont Borough has MADE NO reply.