Article “Higher sewer bills for Lancaster city and suburban residents may be on horizon for Chesapeake cleanup” reports:
“Now it may be the turn of Lancaster city and its suburban residents to face higher sewer bills to clean up the Chesapeake Bay.
“In the last several years, New Holland, Manheim, Mount Joy and Ephrata have made expensive upgrades to their sewage-treatment plants to limit the release of nutrients required by the federally ordered cleanup of the Bay…
“Much of the progress made so far in getting nutrient levels in check has come from farmers. Pennsylvania farmers are credited for reducing nitrogen loads to the Bay by more than 14.5 million pounds since 1985. Farmers also have reduced phosphorus loads by more than 434,000 pounds and sediment by 431.3 billion pounds, according to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.”
Since there are no farms of note in the city, the idea that the expensive upgrade of the city’s sewer treatment plant has to do with farm runoff from the city is patent nonsense.
The main problem is the discharge of raw sewage into the Conestoga River from the sewer treatment plant during heavy storms due to the antiquated combined water and sewer lines serving much of the city.
Four years ago when Mayor Rick Gray called in real estate developer and publisher of NewsLanc, Robert Field, to promote roof top gardens and other minor remedial approaches to the combined sewer problem, Field knew from fifty years of experience in dealings with government environmentalists that this was not going to be an adequate solution. Field explained that to Gray, whom he had known and worked with over the years, and volunteered to confidentially review the city’s sewer plans to see if he and his aides could come up with a better solution.
City Planner Randy Patterson and Gray turned down the offer. Patterson wouldn’t even meet with Field.
Field’s experience with DEP and similar agencies elsewhere in the USA and abroad is that they are results oriented. Show them another way to reduce pollution and tradeoffs can be negotiated.
Lancaster City needs to engage professionals to explore how to avoid the huge expense of upgrading a sewer treatment plant by what may be far less expensive and affective separation of storm sewer from sanitary sewer.
Mayor Gray on this and other matters has allowed Patterson to hide from scrutiny. The mayor’s forty years as a criminal trial attorney conditioned him to be adversarial rather than receptive, a serious lacking for a leader.
The Convention Center Project, botched up Lancaster Square East opportunities. and mishandling of the sewer situation will be Gray’s and Patterson’s sorry legacies. It will take their successors decades and the citizenry a fortune to remedy them.
Yes, Rick Gray could have been a much better mayor. Some people might say he was the worst possible choice.
Except for all of the others.
EDITOR: Good point.
Gray had the potential for being a good mayor if he were receptive to advice and not hostage to his subordinates.