Raw Sewage

A private sewage company spewing about 100,000 gallons of raw sewage a day into a tributary of Rancocas Creek is unable to treat the discharge because it is in the midst of bankruptcy proceedings. The Sunbury Village Sewer Co. informed state officials yesterday that it could not raise the funds to buy a chlorinator to treat the raw sewage before it is dumped into nearby Budds Run, said James M. Staples, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection. The department's effort to find a temporary chlorination method for the discharge is "unprecedented," Staples said.

For four years, members of the Valley Swim Club have been waiting for someone - anyone - to fix a City of Philadelphia drainage pipe that is sending raw sewage into a creek that runs through the grounds of the private club. They have gone to the Lower Moreland Township Board of Commissioners, the city's Water Department and the state Department of Environmental Resources (DER) and, still, the problem remains. "We have an open health hazard for hepatitis out there and the problem just continues to go on," said Lower Moreland Commissioner Emily-Jane Lemole at Wednesday night's commissioner's meeting.

About 70 residents appeared at the Monroe Township Council meeting last night to complain about raw sewage flooding their homes. At least two split-level homes in the 15-year-old Forest Hill development recently were flooded by raw sewage that backed up through basement fixtures. The residents called on the council to hold the township Municipal Authority responsible for the problem. "We came to you because you appointed the people (on the authority) and you have the right to call the people in and have them explain their actions," Jack Luby, former township mayor and owner of the flooded homes, told the council.

Millions of gallons of raw sewage spilled into the Schuylkill from a sewer main break in Reading this week, with a final estimate of the spill to be determined as soon as next week. But the risk for those whose downriver public-utility systems draw directly from the waterway has passed, state environmental regulators said Friday. "I was out doing fecal counts on the river today," said Krissy Pennypacker, laboratory supervisor for the Pottstown water system. "They've dropped off tremendously in the last couple of days.

The Philadelphia prison system has been pumping raw sewage from two city prisons into a storm drain that empties into Pennypack Creek, not far from where the creek flows into the Delaware River, a prison official confirmed yesterday. The official described the practice as an emergency measure that has been used repeatedly over the years, but only during periods of heavy rainfall, such as last week. "Honestly, it does go into the creek. I've got to admit to what I did. . . . It was an emergency procedure," said George Andress, chief of maintenance for the prison system.

Intermittently over a period of five years, the operator of a Montgomery County sewage-treatment plant wasn't testing the outflow and wasn't treating it, according to law enforcement officials. He was simply discharging raw sewage into the Perkiomen Creek, they said. The state Attorney General's Office has filed criminal charges against the operator, Pennsburg resident Michael T. Martin, who was fired months ago from the Green Lane Marlborough Joint Authority. He faces a maximum of 18 years in prison and $40,000 in fines for allegedly allowing untreated or partially treated sewage to flow into the stream and for fabricating sampling data that he submitted to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Jack Luby was relaxing in the family room of his Forest Hills home in Monroe Township two weeks ago when he saw his wife, Judy, coming down the stairs with their one-month-old grandson. But when Judy Luby reached the bottom of the stairs, she stepped ankle-deep into raw sewage. A check valve in the laundry room that was supposed to prevent sewage from backing up had burst, sending the muddy mess gurgling up like a fountain, Luby said. A dozen neighbors, some of whom had also experienced problems with their sewer systems, rushed to help.

Sharks or syringes, forget about it. That would totally ruin a beach vacation.   But people are more placid about poo, apparently. Although a raw-sewage spill prompted authorities to ban swimming at three of the busiest beaches in Ocean City, N.J., earlier this week, sunbathers crowded back into the ocean Tuesday afternoon, after Cape May County health officials declared the currents safe. "Considering that Ocean City is seven miles long, I think it's a little bit overblown," said John Millon, 56, of Havertown, who spent Tuesday on the beach at Third Street.

A Philadelphia-area subsidiary of Browning Ferris Industries Inc. and six executives were charged yesterday with defrauding area sewage treatment plants of $1.3 million by illegally dumping doctored sewage sludge. The charges were contained in a 23-count federal grand jury indictment alleging that the West Chester branch of BFI Services Group Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Houston-based BFI, disguised sewage sludges and grease as raw sewage and dumped them at plants in Philadelphia, Hatfield, Aston, Bridgeport and New Castle, Del., from 1989 to 1992.

The superintendent of the Bristol Township sewage plant did not deliberately pollute the Delaware River, his lawyer said after a guilty plea in federal court yesterday. Steven McClain fouled the river with untreated sewage accidentally while trying to juggle too many tasks, said his attorney, Louis R. Busico. McClain will be sentenced July 20 after pleading guilty to discharging thousands of gallons of sewage into the river at least twice in 2004 and to falsifying test results.

A sewage pipe in Burlington Township broke Saturday night, leaking raw sewage into the Burlington Center Mall at the height of the holiday shopping season. Firefighters, the Burlington County Health Department, and other responders were called to the scene, where some shoppers reported feeling sick Sunday morning. No one was taken to the hospital, a spokesman for the county Office of Emergency Management said. The mall never closed, he said. - Andrew Seidman

A sewage pipe broke Saturday night, leaking raw sewage into the Burlington Center Mall in Burlington Township. Firefighters, the Burlington County Health Department and other responders were called to the scene, where some mall patrons reported feeling sick. No one was transported to the hospital, said a spokesman for the county's Office of Emergency Management. The mall never closed, he said.     Contact Andrew Seidman at 856-779-3846, aseidman@phillynews.com or @AndrewSeidman on Twitter.

AS THE late-afternoon twilight descended on Castor Gardens, in Northeast Philadelphia, Lt. Thomas Macartney guided his marked police car down the alley behind the Rutland Street rowhouses near Magee Avenue, stopping at a garage with broken, wide-open doors. A few days earlier, neighbors had called 2nd District police to report raw sewage pouring out of the garage and flooding the alley. "Whether you're a renter or a homeowner," Macartney said, "you don't want to live next door to this.

Sharks or syringes, forget about it. That would totally ruin a beach vacation.   But people are more placid about poo, apparently. Although a raw-sewage spill prompted authorities to ban swimming at three of the busiest beaches in Ocean City, N.J., earlier this week, sunbathers crowded back into the ocean Tuesday afternoon, after Cape May County health officials declared the currents safe. "Considering that Ocean City is seven miles long, I think it's a little bit overblown," said John Millon, 56, of Havertown, who spent Tuesday on the beach at Third Street.

Philadelphia's $2 billion plan to manage its storm water with green methods - porous pavement, green roofs, and a plethora of trees - got the official nod Tuesday from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson joined Mayor Nutter and other officials at the Fairmount Water Works to sign the agreement for a 25-year plan that has been described as one of the most innovative and ambitious in the nation. It will transform not only how the city handles storm water - treating it as a resource instead of a waste product - but also how the city looks.

Add flushing a toilet to the list of ways to help the environment. PSE&G is funding a $1.3 million project at Camden County's sewage treatment plant using geothermal technology to heat buildings with raw sewage. The technology is used in Europe and China. Paris' historic sewer system - a popular tourist destination - also has a project in the works. But the local project is believed to be the first of its kind in the United States, said Jack DiEnna, executive director of the Geothermal National and International Initiative, an industry group.

Morgan denies illegal hacking LONDON - TV personality Piers Morgan denied Tuesday that he had indulged in illegal methods to obtain stories during his time as editor of two British tabloids, which ended in 2004. The CNN moderator was grilled by a British panel investigating the ethics and culture of journalism after revelations that the now-defunct News of the World, a tabloid where Morgan once worked, this year hacked into the cellphone voice mail account of a 13-year-old kidnap victim who was later found slain.

Millions of gallons of raw sewage spilled into the Schuylkill from a sewer main break in Reading this week, with a final estimate of the spill to be determined as soon as next week. But the risk for those whose downriver public-utility systems draw directly from the waterway has passed, state environmental regulators said Friday. "I was out doing fecal counts on the river today," said Krissy Pennypacker, laboratory supervisor for the Pottstown water system. "They've dropped off tremendously in the last couple of days.

Philadelphia got the green light Wednesday for a $2 billion storm-water plan that will transform the way the city deals with rain. The 25-year plan, which has been hailed as a national model, envisions green roofs on office buildings, porous pavement on city streets and parking lots, and plants and trees with tubs of gravel below ground to hold water and stall runoff in a storm. All would be designed to let rainwater seep back into the ground rather than gush into an aged sewer system where it mixes with raw sewage and overflows into streams and basements.

Tanya Brown isn't caught off guard anymore. When raw sewage comes up through the toilet and floods what used to be the family room of her Gloucester Township townhouse, Brown and her teenage daughter, Amanda Baird, spring into action. First they put on their version of hazmat gear: plastic shopping bags on their shoes, and old turtlenecks and loose fabric around their mouths and noses. Then they break out the bleach and the spare patches of carpet they keep on hand to replace damaged sections.