Addressing Aging Sewer Lines In Cheltenham
CHELTENHAM, Pa. (CBS) - A meeting was held Wednesday night in Cheltenham to discuss on-going repairs to sewer lines that are about 100 years old.
Because the lines are cracked or falling apart, in heavy rains, they can back-up and overflow into a near-by creek.
Cheltenham Township has spent nearly $18-million on repairs and upgrades to public sewer lines, but "private laterals" -- the connectors from a property to the public lines -- also have to be fixed. The question, since an ordinance was put up in May, is how long to give residents to make repairs if and when problems are found.
The difficulty in crafting a one-size-fits-all solution, says Cheltenham Township manager Bryan Havir, is they won't really know what they're dealing with until they do the evaluations:
"There is no way to determine what the true cost for any of this work is going to be. There are so many variables associated with this."
Havir says they're still discussing how long property owners will be given to make repairs, and he says they're looking at ways to soften the blow for property owners, such as group-rates for repairs, low-interest loans or any grants that may be available.
Havir says the first evaluations could begin late this year or early next year in Cheltenham Village and Glenside.