Lancaster city claims Manheim Township isn’t dealing with a long-standing problem of stormwater flowing from the township into the city’s sewer system, according to a lawsuit the city filed this month.
The additional stormwater from the township burdens the city’s system; during heavy rainstorms it overwhelms the city treatment system’s capacity and sends untreated sewage into the Conestoga River, according to the suit, filed Jan. 19 in Lancaster County court.
And that hampers the city’s ability to comply with a consent decree with the U.S Environmental Protection Agency requiring the city to reduce pollution entering the river.
The suit blames the township for the “irresponsible issuance of a multitude of land development approvals (which) has materially increased the amount of impervious cover and the associated amount of stormwater runoff….”
Rick Kane, Manheim Township’s manager, said Thursday, “We are unable to comment on pending litigation.”
Amber Strazzo Righter, the city’s communications manager, said the city doesn’t comment on litigation.
“The city’s position regarding this matter is set forth in the complaint filed,” she said.
As of Friday, the township had not responded to the suit, according to the county prothonotary’s online system.
The 373-page lawsuit contends the township is violating the 1971 Environmental Rights Amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution.
That amendment states: “The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania's public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.”
The township, the suit claims, has also created a public nuisance by violating provisions of the state’s Storm Water Management Act.
The city wants a judge to order Manheim Township to stop the stormwater from flowing into the city’s system, make capital improvements to address the problem, stop approving projects that could worsen the problem and fulfill its duties as a trustee of natural resources.
READ FROM 2019: Grandview Heights residents ask about cost, possible alternatives for handling stormwater problem
READ FROM 2019: Manheim Township stormwater presents unexpected challenge for Lancaster's EPA compliance
Suit's origins
The suit’s origin can be traced to a December 2017 consent decree between the city and the EPA. The decree, which is in effect 15 more years, requires the city to address pollution entering the Conestoga River and, ultimately, the Chesapeake Bay.
Like many cities with old combined stormwater and sewer systems, Lancaster city has long been in violation of federal laws for sending sewage into waterways when its treatment plant is overwhelmed during rain storms.
The area of the township in question in the suit is at least 339 acres, or about a square half-mile, and includes parts of Grandview Heights, Stauffer Park over to Fruitville Pike.
The city discovered the extent of the Township inflows when it was surveying and analyzing its sewer system as part of its negotiations with the EPA, LNP | LancasterOnline reported in March 2019.
Between World Wars I and II, a private developer in the Grandview Heights area arranged to connect new sewers there to the city’s system.
According to the suit, the city, in accordance with the consent decree, first tried “non-judicial means to reduce or cause township defendants to reduce wet weather flow” in the sewer system.
In 2019, the city and township split the cost of an $88,766 study by the C.S. Davidson engineering firm to address part of the problem. The study strongly advised separating the stormwater system and building two dedicated stormwater pipe networks at an estimated cost of $25 million.
The suit said the township has “refused to make any commitments or take necessary actions to reduce or eliminate this unauthorized inflow,” thus forcing the city to take legal action.
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Lancaster city sues Manheim Township over stormwater flow into city's system - LNP | LancasterOnline
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