During Coplay Whitehall Sewer Authority’s Nov. 16 meeting, Chief Executive Officer Liesel Gross, from Lehigh County Authority, presented plans for the Klein’s Island Sewer System project.

Gross spoke on the need to upgrade systems due to aging infrastructure, capacity for new connections, wet weather event issues and regulatory oversight.

The project, as per Act 537, is required by the Department of Environmental Protection.

The KISS currently experiences a flow of 32 million gallons per day on a dry day.

The increase to 160 million gallons on a wet day causes overflow and infiltration.

The majority of the required upgrades are to an industrial pretreatment plant, two exchanges and the Klein’s Island treatment plant itself. All are in Allentown.

A timeline on the project was presented, with the initial planning phase, started in 2019, completed. The next step is project concepts, including cost estimates and municipal input. The 10-year implementation phase is 2026-35. The total cost of the project is estimated to be $561-595 million. The cost is to be shared between locally serviced municipalities with aspirations of state assistance, according to Gross.

Many members of the CWSA board, plus Coplay Borough Council President Lou Bodish and Vice President Charlie Sodl, expressed their concerns about the costs that will be required by CWSA and passed on to residents. It was noted Coplay Borough and Whitehall Township have done an outstanding job correcting problems and keeping systems up to date and contribute little to the problem. It is felt the cost sharing could be unfair to the municipalities, they said.

Gross was unable to share additional municipality cost-sharing information during the meeting but said she is hopeful infrastructure grants will help substantially. LCA will continue to work with CWSA General Manager Matt Harleman on the project details, she added.

In other business, Harleman mentioned a third-quarter LCA invoice discrepancy was found and corrected. The $243,000 amount should have been $246,000.

Harleman also said the work on the 2023 manhole to manhole lining project is complete, and CWSA took delivery of a new F350 utility work truck.

Hahn spoke of the upcoming employee Christmas luncheon, as well as the distribution of the preliminary 2024 CWSA operating budget to the board. The board was asked to review for future discussions and approval.

In closing, Hahn brought up CWSA’s annual $1,000 charitable contributions for Whitehall and Coplay - Whitehall Active Community Center, 2301 Pine St., and Coplay Recreation and Welfare Association, 98 S. Fourth St. Both motions were voted on by the board and carried.