The Summit Hill Borough Council agreed to join Lansford and Coaldale in the joint sewer plan at a meeting on Monday evening, along with other decisions regarding the community.

The decision is in response to a letter from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection earlier this summer saying that the sewage systems of the three towns are inadequate and in need of repair. The towns were given the option to address the issues individually or together, along with the Coaldale-Lansford-Summit Hill Joint Sewer Authority. "Instead of having four different plans to fix the same problem, we felt it was best to go together," borough Secretary Kira Steber said.The joint plan will give the sewer authority more say on issues than before, and the towns will not be able to opt out of the plan once finalized.The details of the plan will be discussed at a joint meeting tonight. "We're going to discuss whether each town will be working on its own sewage or if we're all going to work on one project at a time, along with other things," Steber said.The meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. at the Hilltop Community Center in Summit Hill.The issue of Summit Hill's water lines was brought up by Councilman Jesse Walck at the meeting, who asked Summit Hill Water Authority Chairman Lou Alexander why the lines have not yet been replaced and mentioned that one of the town's fire hydrants is currently inoperable. "We don't have enough money to replace lines from Elm to Chestnut Street, but we may have enough to replace from Elm to Pine Street," Alexander said.The Water Authority has faced problems with the water lines since 2006 and have since been looking for grants and loans to cover the repairs. Walck later pointed out that no money has been put aside for the line repairs since the issues originated. "All I can tell you is that we are trying to do the best we can with the money we have," Alexander said.