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Property owners in Bedford Borough will be required to have all connections to the sanitary sewer system tested in 2022 as part of ongoing efforts to meet a state requirement to reduce stormwater overflow.

The lateral testing program follows the $10.2 million water and sewer line replacement projects the Borough of Bedford Municipal Authority completed in 2020. That work was followed by a $1 million street paving project this year.

But municipal authority chairman Matt Bullington said the expansive line replacement work was not enough to meet the Consent Order and Agreement issued by the state Department of Environmental Protection to reduce sewer overflow from entering the Raystown Branch of the Juniata River during period of extreme precipitation or high groundwater levels.

“We’re taking on too much water,” Bullington said. “Before we put a burden on residents, we wanted to exhaust all we could do on our side before testing the customer side.”

The lateral testing program will require all customers connected to the borough’s sewer system to have a pressure test performed on their lateral by June 30. Any laterals that do not pass the test will be required to be repaired or replaced by Nov. 30 and then pass another test.

Property owners will be responsible for the cost of the testing and repairs. More information on the testing will be provided to property owners by the authority in upcoming weeks.

There are low interest loan programs available for homeowners from PENNVEST and the USDA to assist in the completion of lateral repairs. Information on those programs is available at the borough office.

Tim Cooper, borough engineer, said all connections will be tested from the connection at the main to the building foundation, not under the structure.

Bullington said older homes are more likely to fail the test, adding those with clay pipes likely allow too much groundwater to enter the system.

“There’s going to be a good number that do not pass,” he said.

The authority’s borough-wide replacement project eliminated old piping and connections to the authority system that allowed stormwater and groundwater to enter the system. With the completion of this project, about 99% of the authority’s portion of the system consists of watertight PVC pipe.

While the authority projects have reduced the frequency and volumes of overflow from the system, there still have been times during recent wet weather events that it was necessary to discharge from the authority’s Combined Sewer Overflow system.

Bullington said there will be no annual rate increase in 2022 due to the additional burden placed on property owners as part of the lateral project.

Going forward, laterals will need to be tested during the sale of property, but Bullington added a passed test would be good for five years.

The municipal authority also is looking to address stormwater runoff problems with a new stormwater fee program in 2022.

Bullington said the fee would be based on the amount of impervious space on a parcel, including area like roofs, parking lots and driveways. The chairman added the authority currently has no way to address stormwater concerns, which were previously handled by the borough, as it is not permitted to use water or sewer fees on the issue.

The borough recently received funds from the American Rescue Plan Act and a portion of those funds will go to stormwater improvements.

More information on the proposed fee program will be available in upcoming months.

The municipal authority is also continuing with improvements to the water system. The authority this past year was awarded with a $885,000 grant and low interest loan from PENNVEST to replace several cast iron waterlines and leaded joints.

Bids were recently opened on this contract and work is expected to begin in the spring.

This grant was part of a federal program intended to eliminate lead in the water distribution systems.

Additional grant funding for lead removal is anticipated to be available from the recently passed infrastructure bill and the authority is currently identifying other areas in the system with lead joints to develop a project that could potentially be funded with additional grant money.

The authority is also preparing for future repairs to the J.C. Smith and Todd reservoirs. Both dams have been classified as high hazards and need to be brought up to modern standards.

The authority is under order by the DEP to complete the improvements at the Smith Reservoir.

Recently, the authority accepted a $612,000 federal grant through PEMA that will cover about 65% of the cost of the Smith Reservoir design, as well as $144,000 grant toward the Todd Reservoir designs.

Contact Will DeShong at wdeshong@bedfordgazette.com; 623-1151, ext. 150.

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