West Norriton Considering its Own Sewage Treatment Plant

Now that the dust has settled on recent controversies like the Westover Country Club sports complex and finding a , West Norriton commissioners are turning their attention to the sewers.

According to The Times Herald, the Board of Commissioners is reviewing a 2011 feasibility study on building a new sewage treatment plant for the township. The new plant would allow West Norriton to stop paying Norristown the 36% of operating costs for Norristown's plant – an agreement the two municipalities entered into in 1985 when Norristown took on treatment of West Norriton's waste water.

It would also reportedly get them off the hook for the estimated $54 million (plus another $1.5 million for annual operating and maintenance costs) they would have to pay for a new sewage treatment plant Norristown has planned.

According to the Herald, the feasibility study prepared last year by Lancaster-based RETTEW Associates, Inc. estimates that Pa. Department of Environmental Protection requirements would put the price tag for Norristown's new plant at $150 million. The study estimates that a new plant for West Norriton would only cost $37.3 million, with and addition $1 million for annual operating and maintenance costs.

The two sites currently being cosidered for the West Norriton plant are the current pump station at Rittenhouse Boulevard and Beaver Hollow Road and the site of the former PECO power station on Barbadoes Island.

Read more about the plans for the new plant and the DEP's push for improved sewage treatment in our region here.