CLEARFIELD – A draft Asset Transfer Agreement regarding the sewer systems in both Clearfield Borough and Lawrence Township will soon be ready.
At Tuesday’s meeting, John Williams, manager of the Clearfield Municipal Authority, told the authority board that documentation, requested by CMA from both the township and the borough, has been received.
Williams said the authority will begin finalizing the draft transfer agreement and once approved, the authority will submit the agreement to both municipalities.
This brings CMA one step closer to taking over the sewer systems of both the borough and township.
According to previous GANT News articles, the authority began working to take over the borough and township’s sewer lines upon a recommendation by DEP.
For the past several years, both the borough and the township have been working to remove excess inflow and infiltration from their sewer lines, in response to a mandate by DEP to close sanitary sewer overflows and combined sewage overflows, which discharge raw sewage into the West Branch of the Susquehanna River during periods of heavy rains.
DEP had set deadlines for the overflows to be closed and would have imposed fines of up to $10,000 per day if sewage is discharged into the river after those dates.
The borough and the township had been working to remove any inflow and infiltration by constructing new sewer systems and by requiring residents to remove any connections for downspouts, sump pumps, French drains and other stormwater sources from the new systems.
However, the projects have had mixed results and the authority is still having to open the discharges into the river.
With the deadline fast approaching, Lawrence Township Supervisors had submitted a letter to CMA, saying the township wishes to turn over its sanitary sewer system to the authority.
However, DEP said they would be willing to extend the deadline, and allow the authority to work to solve the inflow problems if both the borough and the township are willing to turn over their sanitary sewer systems to the authority.
