Lehighton has applied for funding to address its antiquated sewage system.

Borough council last week unanimously adopted a resolution to apply for a Pennsylvania Small Water Grant.

Before the vote, borough engineer Vanessa Nedrick, of Remington & Vernik, said that if received, the grant would be used to address the borough’s inflow and infiltration.

Nedrick said there are two drainage areas in the older portions downtown that have about 80% flow infiltration.

She said there’s a 50% grant match. The total amount of the grant is $916,868, with the match being $458,433.

Borough Manager Steve Travers said the match portion is from the borough’s ARPA funds.

“You would be getting almost $1 million of inflow and infiltration rehab on the system that didn’t cost the borough residents anything,” Travers said.

Nedrick said they should hear back by March, but no later than June.

After the meeting, Travers said that inflow and infiltration is a common problem for older towns.

“We’re all aware the sewer systems in all communities are getting older,” he said. “We have a lot of terra-cotta pipes, some of them have lasted 100 years.”

Travers said they have a joint every 3 feet, and start infiltrating groundwater into pipes, which ends up costing the borough money because it has to pay the Central Carbon Municipal Authority.

“Our goal is to keep groundwater out of the pipes,” he said. “Infiltration is really what we’re trying to address with this.”

Travers said the borough got a grant in 2019.

“What we’re looking to do with this grant is to start to line the pipes, put a liner inside the pipes, that way you have no joints where you can get infiltration into the pipes,” he said, and added it gives about a 70-year life. “This will add useful life to the pipe; we know there’s a huge inflow and infiltration problem.

“The goal is to remove that out to save money in the long run.”

Travers said the study broke it up into seven drainage areas.

He said that if the borough were to get the grant and use ARPA funds, it would take care of two drainage areas.

“We will take the ARPA funds hopefully in line with the grant, and hopefully do two drainage areas,” he said. “I think we’ve got a very competitive application that we’re submitting to the state on this.”

Travers explained what that would mean moving forward.

“Once we get that work done, and start seeing savings with what we’re paying CCMA, savings move forward with the program, take that money and do a little bit each year,” he said. “It may take 10-15 years to complete, (but we) could eventually get 100% of the town relined.

“It’s not such a pretty project, but can save us significant amounts of money, and also save the plant. If we can remove some of that inflow and infiltration, it will help the plant in the long run, and (it is) also going to open up the possibility for someone to come in and develop and tie into the plant because there will be capacity at the plant.

“If we can free up capacity, it can be win-win situation all the way down the road. At some point, nothing lasts forever, and if we can (do the) lining now and start doing the project, (it will be a) lot cheaper than to have to dig up and replace. If we had to dig up the pipes, the price would be astronomical.”

Travers said the grant would mean savings so the borough could add a smaller project for next year, possibly a third drainage area.