Ban on sewer hookups, building permits in L. Bucks is lifted temporarily

By Bill Reed, Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted: July 28, 2012

A month-old ban on sewer hookups and building permits in most of lower Bucks County has been lifted temporarily, the state Department of Environmental Protection said Thursday.

The DEP lifted the ban affecting the 13 municipalities served by the Bucks County Water and Sewer Authority on Wednesday, based on new information about the capacity of a sewage pumping station, DEP spokeswoman Deborah Fries said in a statement.

The sewer authority, meanwhile, filed an appeal of the DEP's June 26 ruling with the state Environmental Hearing Board, authority spokesman Patrick Cleary said.

The DEP "misunderstood the information we provided," Cleary said. "We still believe there is no hydraulic overload" of the Totem Road Pump Station.

Fries said the DEP considers the pump station and two major pipes to be "in projected hydraulic overload," which would require "corrective action."

But new building permits and sewer hookups can be issued while the DEP reevaluates the system's capacity, she said.

Meanwhile, the sewer authority has a Sept. 21 deadline to submit a corrective action plan and a connection management plan. The management plan is used "when a system has more projected needs than projected capacity," Fries said, "to determine when and how new connections are made."

The DEP also is urging the municipalities to report pending construction projects to the sewer authority.

Contact Bill Reed at 215-801-2964, wreed@philly.com, or follow on Twitter @breedbucks. Read his blog, "BucksInq," at www.philly.com/bucksinq.

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