The Possum Valley Sewer Authority was incorportated on July 2, 1972 by the Common Wealth of Pennsylvania to obide by the provisions of the Municipal Authorities Act of 1945.  Dually created by Bendersville Borough and Menallen Township to serve the sanitary service needs of both Municipalities. 

    In the early to mid 1980's the Sewer Authority, with the help of a $3.5 million grant, installed  one of the first STEP systems in the area to serve Bendersville Borough and portions of Aspers.  The step system utilizes septic tanks to catch the solid wastes.  Pumps within the basins pump out all the gray water to the sewer mains which gravity flows to the plant for processing.  This system was recommended due to the hilly terrain in the service area.

    Currently PVMA has roughly 100 septic tanks, 85 pump stations and nearly 500 customers on its system.

    The Aspers Water System was created around 1900 when several citizens in Aspers Village financed the installation of a water system to provide water for their homes. They allowed their neighbors to hook up to the water system. By the 1990’s all the original owners had died and the system ownership had fallen to two surviving sons or grandsons.

    The system operated under the PA Public Utility Commission rules. The water system was not allowed to increase rates until improvements were made to the water system. The low alkalinity and pH of the water and the resulting copper levels in the drinking water were causing disposal issues of the wastewater treatment facility biosolids. The only legal way that the biosolids could be disposed of was to haul them to another treatment facility in the Philadelphia Area.

    The water system had approximately 99 customers and $9,500 in debt. The Authority paid off the existing debt and acquired ownership of the water system and installed corrosion treatment (1993). About the same time, the PA DEP was starting the SWIP (Surface Water Influence Protocol) testing of public water sources and agreed to put Possum Valley as far down the list as possible. SWIP testing required water to be tested daily for four or five parameters and

correlated with rain events in an effort to determine if there was indication of a surface water influence.

  The Authority then abandoned the idea of locating a well in the Big Hill/Gablers Road Area where it was thought that relatively soft water may be found near the existing transmission mains. The Opossum Creek intake was considered only because a significant investment had been made in filtering equipment and at least part of the year water could be withdrawn.

  The Authority has made at least ten(10) different attempts to locate a well.  Reportedly the existing well that was constructed near the reservoir has not been pump tested but is thought to yield 15 gpm or more. The Pear Orchard Well was thought to yield 30+ gpm before it was pump tested.

   Any future wells attempted will probably be in the Aspers village area. Based on existing Motts Wells the water volume can likely be found. The water is likely to be hard and require treatment.  The softener backwash would have to be properly disposed of. The best choice is likely sending it to the Possum Valley Wastewater Treatment Facility. This would use treatment capacity at the treatment plant and would be noticeable on Chapter 94 reporting. The amount of capacity would depend upon the volume of water used and the actual hardness of the water. We had previously estimated 10 EDU would be required. A new treatment building and a connection to the existing water system would be required.