Marlton Telegram

By AUBRIE GEORGE | The Marlton Telegram
Thanks to $3.5 million in stimulus funds, the Evesham Municipal Utilities Authority will move forward with a sewer system project it has needed for more than 20 years.
The project, which went out to bid in mid-December, will replace the existing spray irrigation system that the EMUA currently uses to dispose of treated effluent discharge with three new infiltration basins.
Getting the stimulus money for the project was a long and difficult process, said Rocco Maiellano, the now-former executive director of the EMUA. Maiellano retired from the post on Dec. 31 after 30 years with organization.
The state Department of Environmental Protection distributed about $213.5 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds for sewer projects throughout the state. The DEP gave Evesham the OK to receive bids for its proposed project in mid-November.
“Ultimately, what it comes down to, is you have to be shovel-ready,” Maiellano said. “You have to have a contract awarded and signed by Jan. 15 or else you lose the money.”
Maiellano said the EMUA got the project ready and put it out to bid on Dec. 17.
“It was a long and arduous process to get to this point,” Maiellano said.
Half of the $3.5 million in stimulus money will be given to the EMUA with no repayment obligation. The other half can be paid back over 20 years at a low-market interest rate of about 1.5 percent, Maiellano said.
“That 50 percent we don’t have to pay back, which is great for our ratepayers,” Maiellano said.
EMUA officials said they would attempt to maintain the current rate structure while still providing the same level of services to residents.
EMUA officials expect construction of the new basins will save money in manpower and maintenance costs.
The EMUA acquired the Kings Grant Wastewater Treatment Facility in 1987 and, about a year later, discovered that the two basins at the facility were not big enough to accept more than 250,000 gallons of treated effluent discharge per day. At that time, the EMUA was pumping about 400,000 gallons per day, Maiellano said.
To make up for the lack of capacity in those basins, the EMUA implemented the use of a spray irrigation system.  The system was meant to be a temporary measure, but the EMUA has been using it since it was implemented in 1991, Maiellano said. Today the EMUA pumps about 550,000 to 600,000 gallons of treated effluent per day, most of it being sprayed into a 93-acre area near the facility.
EMUA officials said spray irrigation is not considered a permanent measure because of weather-related limitations. Spray irrigation is not permitted when the ground is frozen, covered in snow or when wind speed is more than 15 miles per hour, according to DEP regulations. If those conditions are in place for an extended period of time, the result could be an overflow of the two current basins.
The three new infiltration basins will be constructed on Kettle Run Road, about one mile north of Marlton Lakes.
The existing basins at the Kings Grant facility will remain as backup but the above-ground spray irrigation pipes will be removed, EMUA officials said.
The project, EMUA officials said, will also include a 6,700-foot extension from the existing 10-inch force main near the existing basins to the location of the new basins.
“That’s a little over a mile of new sewer line,” Maiellano said.
Before the project could receive the OK, the EMUA hired consulting firm Eastern Geosciences, Inc. to perform a hydrogeologic evaluation of the proposed infiltration basin.
The study determined the proposed area would be able to handle 600,000 gallons of treated effluent discharge per day.
In addition, the Pinelands Commission conducted several studies on the proposed area, including a cultural resource study, detailed wetland investigation and delineation and a threatened and endangered species study.
The commission determined that the improvements will not have any adverse affects on the human environment, direct or indirect impact on cultural resources, endangered or threatened species or designated habitats, wetlands, vernal habitats, food plains, important farmlands or other environmentally critical areas.
The commission approved the project in August 2008, EMUA officials said.

Related items

• A system of saving puppies
• Marltonian on puppy-saving mission
• Police arrest nine for selling drugs
• Kiki Open set for July 26
• Heroin ring busted