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By Joseph Cress, October 24, 2004

Last updated: Sunday, October 24, 2004 9:48 AM EDT

How efforts to save the Chesapeake Bay may impact local waste water treatment plants remains a murky prospect without updated limits on nitrogen levels.

Although Pennsylvania committed four years ago to removing certain amounts of nitrogen, phosphorous and sediment from its discharge into the watershed, the state Department of Environmental Protection is at least two months months away from issuing new guidelines for complying.

In Pennsylvania, there are 143 waste water treatment plants, including several in Cumberland County, that together contribute about 11 percent of the watershed's total nitrogen, says Ron Adams, who is superintendent of Mechanicsburg's facility.

By targeting these plants for upgrades, the DEP hopes to reduce nitrogen loads.

4-year effort

Although the state environmental agency began working on establishing a new set of guidelines in 2000, department spokeswoman Sandy Roderick says the process has taken this long because of the necessity of working with other states in the watershed as well as the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Once the proposed regulations arereleased, it will take another 18 months to go through the regulatory process, she says.

In the absence of new nitrogen guidelines, local plant managers surveyed this week say they cannot predict how what is known as the Chesapeake 2000 will impact their operations. Estimates range in the millions of dollars.

Predicting the cost

Engineer Gannett-Fleming estimates it could cost Mechanicsburg Borough $2 million to $2.5 million (in 2004 dollars) for an upgrade to meet anticipated nitrogen levels.

Any costs for capital improvements will be shared by Silver Spring and Monroe townships based on their allotted capacity of 11 percent and 5 percent, respectively, he adds.

Mechanicsburg Borough Manager Jonathan Stough anticipates any upgrade most likely will require an additional stage in the treatment process.

The last upgrade was in 1981 with the addition of secondary treatment to change the chemical makeup of ammonia nitrogen (urine) into a more benign form of nitrogen, Adams says.

Typically, DEP gives facilities up to three years to make necessary upgrades after a new limit is established, thus the borough could have between four years to nine years to comply.

"We could end up being one of the first (plants) in the state to have a total nitrogen limit or one of the last in the state," Adams says, adding paperwork will be submitted in March to renew the plant's five-year permit that expires next October.

Rather than waiting for DEP, Mechanicsburg Borough is planning to start setting aside money for upgrades in next year's budget at the suggestion of Councilwoman Linda Humes.

'Wratcheting down'

Meanwhile, the Carlisle plant on North Middlesex Road treats wastewater from the borough and parts of surrounding townships and discharges the treated water into Conodoguinet Creek.

Plant Manager Pete Selan said "we're expecting some wratcheting down" of limits for the amount of nitrogen and other elements discharged, but the borough has not received any guidelines from DEP.

The borough's permit expires in 2006.

In South Middleton Township, operations manager Arthur Bear says he cannot predict what upgrades might be needed or anticipate possible costs at the 27-year-old plant. The plant, which was last upgraded in 1993, has a DEP permit that is good through 2006.

Hampden Township Manager John Bradley says, "We've heard a bunch of figures from the sublime to the ridiculous.

"Without specific information, any cost estimate would be pure conjecture," he says.

Bradley says there are indications DEP may delay requiring municipalities to implement upgrades until the subsequent round of permit renewals. This would push the timetable for Hampden to comply to 2010, by which time the township would have closed its Pinebrook Plant, the oldest of its two facilities.

While this would save money, Bradley says the township is still looking at the prospect of millions of dollars in upgrades to its Rolf Lane plant which opened about 20 years ago.

'Nitrogen trading'

Bradley adds there also are indications DEP may consider allowing municipalities to develop "nitrogen trading" alternatives that could act as a credit in lieu of expensive plant upgrades.

For example, a municipality could establish a program to help local farmers reduce levels going into the watershed by improving their drainage systems, he explains.

Bradley is encouraged by how DEP seems to taking time "to get it right" and consider the impact the new permit limit on nitrogen would have on local municipalities.

"That decision will be critical," he says, adding he is sure the state agency is trying to balance the need to protect the environment with the potential cost impact on rate payers.

Recent upgrade

As for Upper Allen, the effect should be minimal because its plant had an upgrade not too long ago in 1991, plant superintendent Bill Anderson predicts, adding that upgrade will enable the township to meet the new total nitrogen limit once it is released by the state."We anticipate minimal costs."

The plant's permit comes up for approval again in 2008.

Mike Dobson, acting plant superintendent for East Pennsboro Township, says township engineer Gannett Fleming is designing upgrades to be phased in over the next few years.

He was not sure how upgrades associated with a new nitrogen limit would factor into the overall project. "It's not etched in stone yet."

In anticipation of having to meet new DEP standards, the Shippensburg wastewater treatment plant is in the design phase for an upgrade to its treatment technology, says operations manager Chuck Music.

The borough authority is looking to go to bid as soon as the DEP releases its permit level modifications and the project receives its final stamp of approval, he adds.

The borough owns about 55 percent of the capacity of the plant with outlying municipalities owning the remaining 45 percent. The current permit expires in 2006.

Growing greener

Shippensburg will apply for a $500,000 state grant toward a plant upgrade, Music says.

The Rendell administration's Growing Greener program does earmark funds for upgrading waste water treatment plants to comply with Chesapeake 2000, says the DEP's Roderick.

Defining the bay, its watershed

The Chesapeake Bay, the nation's largest estuary, has been degraded due to water quality problems, loss of habitat and over harvesting of living resources, according to a U.S. Geological Survey website.

The bay was listed under the Clean Water Act as an "impaired water body" due to excess nutrients and sediments and must improve water-quality conditions by 2010, the USGS states.

In response to these problems, the Chesapeake Bay Program completed Chesapeake 2000, a new agreement that revises and establishes new restoration goals for the next 10 years in the bay and its watershed.

According to the Chesapeake Bay Program's website, a watershed is defined as the total land area that drains water into a river, lake, estuary or body of water.

The Chesapeake Bay watershed covers more than 64,000 square miles stretched across six states - New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia and West Virginia - and the District of Columbia.

Threading through the bay watershed are several "subwatersheds," smaller systems that drain into rivers and streams that ultimately flow into the Chesapeake. These smaller systems include the Susquehanna River along with the York, Rappahannock, Potomac, James and Patuxent rivers.

More than 15 million people live in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and it is estimated the population could grow to 18 million people by 2020. This population growth is seen as a major stressor on the bay's ecosystem with everything from fertilizing lawns to driving cars as having an impact on the environment.

On the Net:

For more information about the Chesapeake Bay watershed:

http://chesapeake.usgs.gov

www.chesapeakebay.net