Mt. Lebanon considers ordinance addressing sanitary sewer laterals
Further discussion will take place before the process begins toward enacting a new Mt. Lebanon ordinance addressing sanitary sewer lateral lines, privately owned pipes that connect to the public main lines.
At issue are requirements for inspection and repairs to the laterals, with the goal of the municipality meeting standards to be established by federal and state regulatory agencies.
As currently worded, the ordinance would require inspections of laterals at the point of sale for real estate transactions. Eliminated from consideration is a stipulation for inspections to occur in conjunction with applications for plumbing permits from Allegheny County.
During their March 12 discussion session and regular meeting, Mt. Lebanon commissioners joined municipal officials in speaking at length about the proposed ordinance, with part of the focus on the reasons for it being under consideration.
Much of that has to do with regulation on the federal and state levels.
In 2008, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency entered into a consent decree with Allegheny County Sanitary Authority aimed at reducing sewer overflows into the area’s watersheds. Also, the state Department of Environmental Protection signed consent orders with all 83 of Alcosan’s municipal customers, including Mt. Lebanon, requiring each to complete feasibility studies for controlling overflows.
An update to the agreements with the regulatory agencies is expected, but what that will entail is unknown.
“It’s going to require the municipality to adjust to get its flows reduced,” solicitor Philip Weis told the commissioners, “but it’s not necessarily going to mandate exactly how to do that.”
A key component is removing extraneous water from the sanitary system, as explained by Dan Deiseroth, municipal engineer and president of Gateway Engineers.
“There are a number of ways to do that, but it appears that the regulators are focusing in on what they call a ‘gold-standard flow,’ an expected flow per capita,” he said, with the volume to be determined. “We’re going to be held to that standard. We’re going to have to go back in and pull the community apart in pieces, and see how we measure against that standard and then perform projects to get to that standard.”
The municipality has been working on rehabilitating the main lines, which helps eliminate water but only to a certain point, according to Deiseroth.
“When you make those systems tight, groundwater rises further because it can’t get into your main lines, and finds another place to go in. The most likely place for it to go in would be on the laterals,” he explained. “At some point of time, we’re going to get to diminishing returns when you’re not going to be able to do work along the main that will be able to take away the water you need to do to meet the standard.”
As a result, officials are attempting to have Mt. Lebanon join other communities, including neighboring Upper St. Clair, in putting a mechanism in place by which repairs are made when necessary to at least some of the lateral lines.
“Some municipalities have been working on it for years, but they have different types of systems and reasons for wanting to do that,” Deiseroth told commissioners. “It depends on what the right time is for Mt. Lebanon to do it.”
Commissioner John Bendel said the timing should be with regard to what the regulatory agencies determine:
“My preference at this point is to wait to see what the target is, decide then what options there are, and if the lateral ordinance is, say, the best way or the only way to achieve the target, then I’d be ready to move ahead with it.”
Acting relatively soon may be a good way to proceed, according to Commissioner Kelly Fraasch.
“We have had over the years situations in which we don’t want to slam the community with something bigger when we could have started smaller and made some steps toward a situation to make it better,” she said.
The proposed ordinance at this point calls for lateral inspections to be applicable for three years, meaning that real estate transactions within that span would not be subject to another inspection.
For laterals that are determined to require upgrades, point repair, lining and full replacement as acceptable would be acceptable methods, according to Ian McMeans, municipal planner and assistant manager.
“If repairs cannot be completed, reviewed and approved prior to the time of a real estate closing, the municipality would follow a similar process to what we do for our dye tests, and we would escrow funds to ensure that repair did take place,” he said.
Inspectors of the laterals would require National Association of Sewer Service Companies certification.
“The inspector does not have to be the same entity that enacts any repairs that happen because of the inspection,” McMeans said. “Any repairs that are done must be done by a registered plumber in Allegheny County.”
Municipal officials plan to revisit the topic and continue to make revisions to the draft ordinance prior to introducing it at a commission meeting and scheduling a public hearing, after which commissioners would vote on its adoption.