Toni Radcliffe ’14
The Newtown Township Board of Supervisors held a Conditional Use Hearing on February 27th for the construction of a sanitary sewer line through a flood hazard district, which would improve Episcopal’s waste water management system. The sanitary sewer would carry sewage underground from houses and commercial buildings to treatment or disposal. Mark Notaro, Head of Plants and Operations, said, “Currently, in this part of Newtown Square Township, there are no sanitary sewer lines anywhere. Ashford [Land Company] has purposed a pump station on their property closer to Goshen Road. What we are looking to do, instead of going up 252 and then digging our own line all the way down and [to] Route 3, [is] to go straight across the property and tie into their pump station which is going to be sized to handle our campus, the White Horse Development next door, and, possibly, some residents of Echo Valley.” Newtown Township’s Zoning Hearing Board and the Planning Commission already approved the construction of the purposed sanitary sewer line. Yet, the Board of Supervisors held the Conditional Use Hearing to look back on the December 15th order from the Zoning Hearing Board that granted Episcopal’s proposal. The Board also wanted to decide whether they should place any conditions on the grant. Currently, Episcopal owns a 10,000 gallon and a 20,000 gallon septic tank. Notaro said, “At the moment, we are engaged in a contract with Aqua Waste Water Management. It is a pump and haul operation. When [the tanks] get filled, the trucks come and haul it away. [They can come] as many as three to four days a week and several times during each of those days to come and haul it away to a local waste water treatment plant.” The installation of a sanitary sewer would reduce air pollution, the risk of a sewage related accident, and would preserve Episcopal’s roads. Although Episcopal is trying desperately for the installation, many students are unaware of the ongoing situation. Sammi Ciardi, III Form, said, “I’m pretty sure [Episcopal] has pipes underneath and then a big basin that [the sewage] goes into. Wasn’t there a problem like a year ago when the basin overflowed? I remember one of my science teachers talking about it, but I don’t know for sure!” Gordon Clarke, V Form, said, “I don’t know what EA does with its sewage.” The Cross Country Team is familiar with the smell of the septic tanks. Jimmy Larkin ’14 said, “We run by the septic tanks quite often [for Cross Country], especially during races. Some days, during races, [the smell] gets really bad and it hurts everyone’s performance because the smell is so intoxicating. It’s just not good. It’s very annoying. I don’t think anybody likes it.”