Northern Lebanon County Authority
May 2018 Meeting
We Lived to Tell about It
May 18, 2018- A Day that will live in infamy, (in Jonestown, PA, that is). 130 Brave Souls and 67 Intrepid Vendors descended upon Jonestown, PA , to visit and tour the Northern Lebanon County Authority’s Wastewater Treatment Facility.
The Authority was officially incorporated in 1972 for the purpose of providing wastewater treatment services to properties located within Jonestown Borough, Swatara Township and Union Township. The original plant and collection system were constructed between 1981 and 1982. The original plant had a permitted capacity of 400,000 gallons per day (GPD) and went on line in the spring of 1982. The plant was a typical activated sludge process and treated effluent was disinfected using chlorine gas injection prior to being discharged to the Swatara Creek.
As time passed, both state and federal discharge parameters began to change in an effort to reduce nutrients being discharged into the receiving waters that ultimately end up in the Chesapeake Bay.
After several years of planning, securing the required permits and financing, construction began in the fall of 2014 on the plant upgrade. Improvements include a dual basin SBR (sequencing batch reactor) with increased capacity to effectively treat average daily flows of 750,000 GPD. The project also included a new headworks screen and an upgraded raw sewage pump station to handle increased flows. Ultraviolet disinfection is now used on the treated effluent prior to discharging to the Swatara Creek.
The upgraded plant was put on line in March of 2016 and is now producing excellent effluent water quality that is well below all monthly discharge parameters currently in place on the Authority’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.
Following the tour and mini-training sessions, those aforementioned brave souls headed to a business meeting at the American Legion in Jonestown, which was preceded by a lunch of Lebanon Bologna washed down by Kool Aid. If you don’t get those references, please ask Siri or Alexa or your Mommy (if you are younger than 55).
Those surviving lunch were also thankful to the following sponsors:
·
KPI Techology- Breakfast
·
Envirep/TLC (Tender Loving Care) and Aqua-Aerobic Systems- Mailing
·
Seltzer’s - Lebanon Bologna (just kidding)
·
Kool-Aid – Drinks (really just kidding)
Actually, the real lunch was awesome; it was an Italian meal including salad, several types of pasta served with chicken, sausage and peppers. In fact, Tony, who catered the lunch, had to drive to Jersey at the last minute for a new oven as his broke down just before the event (true story!).
All these sponsors helped to pay for the real lunch:
Gold Sponsors - $500
- Dutchland
- Kline's Services
- Whitman, Requardt & Associates, LLP
Silver Sponsors - $250
Bronze Sponsors - $100
- AH Moyer, Inc.
- Penn Power
Thanks again to the Plant, the Sponsors, Marykay, and all who helped make this Meeting a success. Nothing else happened that I remember, but next time I will take notes (if I remember).
Forgetfully yours, Phil Schwartz, Director
