Frequently Asked Questions
The Sewer System
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Kline’s Island Sewer System (KISS) is the regional wastewater system that serves Allentown and 14 other communities in Lehigh County. About 270,000 people rely on the system to carry wastewater away from their homes and businesses to the Kline’s Island Wastewater Treatment Plant, which treats 32 million gallons of wastewater daily.
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When wastewater leaves your home or business, it travels through portions of the system’s nearly 1,000 miles of pipes, large sewer lines, and pump stations to a treatment plant in Allentown. There, wastewater is treated to the highest possible environmental standards and discharged to the Lehigh River. This system safeguards public health and protects our environment by ensuring no raw sewage enters our waterways.
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Kline’s Island Sewer System serves:
1. City of Allentown
2. Borough of Emmaus
3. Borough of Macungie
4. Borough of Alburtis
5. Borough of Coplay
6. Upper Macungie Township
7. Lower Macungie Township
8. South Whitehall Township
9. Salisbury Township
10. Whitehall Township
11. Upper Milford Township
12. Hanover Township
13. North Whitehall Township
14. Weisenberg Township
15. Lowhill Township
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The KISS system—including the treatment plant, pipes, sewer lines, and pump stations—has two issues: It is aging, some parts are 100 years old; and it is at capacity, meaning the pipes can’t handle any more wastewater than the current amount. As the system’s pipes deteriorate over time, stormwater from rain or snow events can enter and overwhelm the system, resulting in raw sewage overflowing from manholes and at the wastewater treatment plant and backing up into customers’ basements. This is an environmental concern, as raw sewage enters our local waterways. Even in dry weather, groundwater can flow into the pipes due to cracks. The system, which is regulated by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP), does not currently meet stringent public health and environmental requirements.
Regional Act 537 Plan
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The Kline’s Island Sewer System must develop a plan to meet the comprehensive regulations of the Pennsylvania Sewage Facilities Act, also called an “Act 537 Plan.” The plan requires approval from the PA DEP. All municipalities’ sewer plans fall under this regulation. In Lehigh County, the 15 municipalities in the Kline’s Island Sewer System are working together to comply with the act by developing a plan that meets the region’s needs.
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LCA must submit the KISS plan to PA DEP in 2025. Before the plan can be submitted, each municipality must review and approve the plan. LCA is working with municipalities to ensure each is comfortable with and approves the plan before that deadline. After the plan is approved, the projects will be implemented in phases over 10 years, from 2026 to 2035.
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Since the requirement to complete this plan is part of a PA DEP requirement, it is essential that all deadlines are achieved. Potential regulatory actions, such as a stricter requirements or fines, could be applied to all municipalities in the Kline’s Island Sewer System if we don’t meet the deadline.
If an individual municipality declines to approve the regional plan, the plan will be submitted to PA DEP without that municipality’s approval. PA DEP will determine any specific regulatory action that may be necessary to address that municipality’s failure to approve the plan.
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Between 2007 and 2019, many municipalities focused on sewer rehabilitation projects to help stop system leakage. A lot of work has been completed already! While this work has made a difference, the challenges of an aging system and the amount of leakage that still exists require a broader long-term plan. It has taken time to bring all 15 municipalities together for this effort because the communities served by the Kline’s Island Sewer System have diverse needs. Since 2019, the 15 municipalities and their engineers have met monthly to work through challenges and develop this Act 537 Plan.
Municipal Requirements
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Each municipality must individually approve the Act 537 Plan by vote. Municipalities are also responsible for developing and implementing their sewer rehabilitation plans to reduce the amount of groundwater and stormwater entering their sewer pipes. Additionally, the municipalities will manage new connections to the sewer system.
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Each municipality will develop its own plan to address aging infrastructure and system leakage in its service area, including determining what work to complete and how to pay for it. Data has been provided to each municipal manager and engineer to help them develop their strategies. Some municipalities may wish to work together on their programs to achieve lower contract costs and avoid duplicated efforts. LCA has offered its help to all KISS municipalities and is working to develop more ways for municipalities to work together on their rehab programs so they will be more cost effective.
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Some of the municipalities in the Kline’s Island Sewer System have been doing great work to rehabilitate their aging sewer systems! This will reduce the size and cost of some of the larger regional projects we must complete. In addition, since the plan’s costs will be shared with each community based on the volume of sewage flowing from each municipal system, those communities that reduce the leakage in their sewer pipes will pay a lower portion of the overall cost.
Funding
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The Kline’s Island Sewer System plan will be the largest investment our region has ever made to protect public health and the environment. The plan’s critical elements include fixing municipal sewers and upgrading the system. These major system upgrades are anticipated to cost about $300 million. The plan also identifies how the solution will affect sewer rates and identifies funding sources.
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LCA and the municipalities involved in the project will develop a financing strategy together. The large regional projects will be financed through LCA’s efforts to seek grants or low-interest loans through state and federal programs. Municipalities will determine funding sources for their own sewer collection system rehabilitation programs, which may also include state grants and low-interest loans.
Federal funding is available through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under the Water Infrastructure Finance & Innovation Act (WIFIA). The Clean Water State Revolving Fund is another potential funding source administered by the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (Pennvest). Other near-term federal funding programs will also be reviewed, including funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. Annual state programs such as the H20 PA and Local Share Assessment grant programs may also provide support.
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LCA has been meeting and sharing information with local legislators. They understand the weight of the project and the importance of high-quality sewer service in our region. We hope to have their support for grant funding. LCA has also been meeting with a group of local large industrial customers who are collaborating on the details associated with the region’s pretreatment plant and is looking for alternative funding sources to support the region’s needs. At the local level, municipalities are encouraged to pursue grants to support their individual sewer rehabilitation plans.
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We’re working hard to identify all available state and federal grant funding to help pay for this critical investment. However, we recognize that most projects outlined in the Act 537 Plan will likely be paid through low-interest loans. This will help spread the cost out over a longer period but will cause rates to increase in every community. As part of this planning process, a more detailed financial analysis will be completed to share with each municipality so we can plan for these rate increases.
Growth and Development
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New customers who connect to the Kline’s Island Sewer System in the future will pay a fee (called a “Tapping Fee”) to connect to the system to help offset these project costs. In addition, as new customers connect to the system, their sewer flows will become part of the system’s customer base, which means the cost will be spread out across more customers.
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If a municipality has no planned growth and no new sewer connections, its sewage flows will reduce over time and decrease the portion of the cost that the municipality will pay. For those communities that are still growing, new connections to their sewer collection system will generate increased sewer flows, resulting in those municipalities paying more over time.
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Our regional sewer system supports a thriving economy. Our region has 22 large customers, many in the food and beverage manufacturing business, that use LCA’s industrial pretreatment plant. The pretreatment plant is an essential component of the sewer system that removes harmful pollutants from industrial customers’ wastewater before sending it into the system. This helps keep our communities and waterways healthy and controls treatment costs. These businesses employed an estimated 2,950 workers in 2022 and generated $253 million in annual earnings. LCA’s industrial pretreatment plant has fostered a highly concentrated food and beverage manufacturing industry in Lehigh County.
In addition to the economic benefits our region enjoys by having the industrial pretreatment plant, many communities are still growing. As communities add new houses and businesses or redevelop their town centers, having adequate sewer capacity to serve future customers is an important ingredient in the recipe for planned growth in Lehigh County.
The Kline’s Island Sewer System is an investment in our vibrant economy because it means we can provide this essential service to businesses and industries that want to locate in Lehigh County, creating jobs and opportunities for generations to come.