In Pennsylvania, certain very clean, very healthy streams deserve the special “Outstanding Value” award from the State Department of the Environment (PADEP). These are the Commonwealth’s most pristine waters, and they deserve special protection from PADEP.
Of 59 named streams in Adams County, only three streams or stream segments have been given this particular name: Carbaugh Run, a short section of Middle Creek, and Swamp Creek, which is located in Hamiltonban Township west of Fairfield. This is one of 59 named streams in Adams County.
But while some stream has to go right to achieve Exceptional Value (EV) status, little has to go wrong to degrade an EV stream through overexploitation or pollution.
Adams County’s Watershed Alliance fears that if a company that has bought land along the Creek manages to build a non-standard sewerage system just steps from its banks that will serve the same level of degradation, Swamp Creek will be exposed to this degradation toxic nitrate could more than double the electricity.
Petrus Holdings, Inc. has acquired 16 acres in Hamiltonban Twp. and is currently soliciting the community and PADEP to build houses for 20 people on land just 150 meters above Swamp Creek.
The land in question is mountainous, with soils classified as “marginal” – in other words, the land “perc” is not and as such is unsuitable for a standard sewage system. Because of this, Petrus Holdings is trying to build a non-standard sewage system to manage the community’s raw sewage.
In April, Soil Services, Inc., on behalf of Petrus Holdings, submitted a wastewater system planning module to the Hamiltonban community planning committee. The planning document estimates that the sewage flow from this community would be 2,000 gallons per day and suggests disposing of the community’s sewage through a “shallow perimeter drip micro-mound on the property.”
The Watershed Alliance believes that this non-standard sewer system will not be enough to prevent toxins from migrating into Swamp Creek.
The same goes for Charles B. Andrews, Ph.D., Senior Principal at the environmental and water resources consultancy SS Papadopulos & Assoc., Inc., who issued a report stating that the system proposed by Petrus Holdings was approximately 250 pounds. will release “nitrogenous waste” annually into Swamp Creek.
“This estimate is very worrying,” said Patrick Naugle, president of the Watershed Alliance. “It’s probably an underestimate too, because it just looks at the human waste of this community. It doesn’t take into account other pollutants such as household chemicals, detergents, pharmaceuticals, herbicides, pesticides, and other destructive substances that inevitably get into Swamp Creek and from there into Chesapeake Bay from an inadequate treatment system. Along the way, these chemicals will devastate the fragile ecosystem of Swamp Creek. “
The Watershed Alliance of Adams County, a private, non-profit organization committed to protecting and improving the county’s water resources, requests PADEP to protect the Exceptional Value Swamp Creek.
“We are concerned that any sewer system will be built under ‘boundary conditions’, but especially one built on the banks of a pristine stream of exceptional value,” said Naugle.
“My main concern about the proposed micro-hill system is its potential impact on the water quality and aquatic biota of adjacent Swamp Creek,” notes Andrews in his report, adding that the septic system proposed by Petrus Holdings, Inc. will be inadequate to prevent the community’s raw sewage from entering Swamp Creek.
“The characteristics of the hydrological system near the proposed micro-mound are such that all sewage that is dumped on the micro-mound will eventually dump into Swamp Creek,” the report said. “So the 2,000 gallons per day of sewage dumped on the micro-mounds will result in an additional 2,000 gallons per day drainage into Swamp Creek.”
Andrews adds, “The use of the micro-hill system will add nutrient loads to Swamp Creek. Based on the standard assumption of 45 mg / L nitrogen in the wastewater and limited degradation within the system, the use of the micro-hills results in more than 250 pounds of nitrogen being added to Swamp Creek per year, increasing nitrogen concentrations in the creek, especially in the sensitive periods of low water. In addition to nitrogen, many other components of food, medicines and cleaning agents that are used in residential and cult sites are discharged into the sewer system and applied to the micro-hills as waste water. Components that do not or only partially degrade in systems of this type include a variety of food additives, pharmaceuticals, organic solvents and inorganic compounds. These ingredients will all flow into Swamp Creek. Many of these compounds have the potential to affect Swamp Creek biota. “
Andrews concludes, “In my opinion, using a micro-hillock system for sanitation will degrade Swamp Creek.”
For comparison: The Watershed Alliance regularly measures nitrate levels of around 1.6 mg / L in Swamp Creek. According to Andrews report, nitrate levels at Exceptional Value Swamp Creek could soar to 3.8 mg / L – an increase of 138% – and well above the recommended upper limit of 2.0 mg / L.
Andrews’ full report is available online at AdamsWatersheds.org.
Charles Stangor is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Gettysburg Connection.
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