SUS Q Vol. 75 No.9 - March 5, 1975 ~ Ralph Wi . onyder R. D. @ Mount Joy, Pa. Susquehanna Times & The Mount Joy Bulletin MARIETTA & MOUNT JOY, PA. Bacteria at work for Marietta - E. Donegal It’s not a sewage plant; it’s a water pollution con- trol plant; it takes the raw sewage from the borough of Marietta and from East Donegal Township, takesthe pollutants out of it - and turns out pure water which then flows into the Susque- hanna River. Working all the time It’s something we just take for granted, never giv- ing it a thought. If some- thing would go wrong with this plant on the eastern edge of Marietta, we’d all be screaming, but as long as it is working, we don’t even know where it’s located. It is working ‘round the clock. A continuous graph shows the hundreds of thou- sands of gallons of raw sew- age pouring into the plant at all hours of the day. You can see on the graph when people around here get up Bacteria at work on churning sewage The control panel and go to bed, when the graph peaks, and when they are sleeping in the dark morning hours, when the graph shows a low flat val- ley. Quadrillions of bacteria All day and all night the plant is working, churning and pumping air into the sewage so that billions, trill- ions and quadrillions of bac- teria will have oxygen they need to break down the solids in the sewage. Over and over again the solutions are re-cycled, and the bac- teria go to work on them. Finally, in a special com- partment, the bacteria can- nibalistically consume them- selves. - Pure water is chlorinated before being released to the river. Solids that the bacteria couldn’t dispose of are spread on drying beds, to be hauled away eventually as useful fertilizer. The man with major re- sponsibility for keeping this most necessary plant work- at all times is John L. Park- er, Jr., superintendant, also president of the borough Council and constable of Marietta. Inter-municipal cooperation John works under the supervision of the Donegal Sewer Authority; Chairman, Lew Sperla; Vice-Chairman, Albert Huck; Secretary-Trea- surer, Dr. Michael Gratch; Assistant Secretary and As- sistant Treasurer, Ralph Mil- ler. The Joint Sewer Author- ity is a prime example of inter-municipal cooperation within our area, to provide essential service to the en- tire community across politi- cal boundaries. What would happen if this essential service would stop functioning. Flood of ‘72. Well, one time it did stop functioning - during the fam- ous Agnes Flood of ‘72. While the Agnes rains were still falling hard at 2 a.m. Thursday morning, John Parker got a telephone call from Police Chief Jim Millar informing him that water was seeping out of the manholes on Front Street. John got out of bed, got dressed, and went out to investigate the sewers. He didn’t know it then, but he was not going to re- turn to his bed for a week, and he was not going to get any sleep for six days. On Friday afternoon he waded into the plant in wa- ter up to his knees. After working at the plant and checking conditions for a couple hours, the water ris- ing all the time, he threw the main switch on the plant, stopping all opera- tions. When he waded out the water was over his waist. Next day he came in by boat with some help, and docked his boat at the ce- ment platform around the control room. In two days he and his helpers removed the heavy motors that run the pumps and took them into Lancaster to be dried (Continued on page 7) Carmany br idge SHOWS UEHANNA BULLETIN Ten Cents East Donegal economy In its last few issues, the Susquehanna Bulletin has been running articles on vari- ous local public officials, getting their views on com- munity problems and oppor- tunities. The Bulletin has talked to both Lloyd Fuhrman and Jim Johnstin, supervisors of East Donegal Township (we haven’t gotten around yet to Abe Groff, the other su- pervisor). Both Fuhrman and John- stin were reluctant to have personal articles written a- bout themselves, and as they said, ‘“‘get their pictures in the paper.” So, the Bulletin decided to write a little about the work of these two men, in- stead of about themselves. As an example of their work we chose the bridge on Carmany Road over the eastern tributary of Done- gal Creek. This is a bridge that Lloyd and Jim themselves erected some seven or eight years ago with the help of’ one other man. They had received a bid for the bridge of $31,000 from an outside contractor. Lloyd and Jim decided that was too much. They went to work on the bridge themselves. They bought steel beams and pipes, etc. for their bridge at junkyards. They mixed the concrete themselves. The entire cost of the bridge and of the mile and a half stretch of road was less widow of the late Dr. J. N. then the $31,000 the con- tractor had wanted for the bridge alone. Carmany Road bridge is typical of the economizing and saving the taxpayer’s dollars that Lloyd Fuhrman, and Jim Johnstin have striv- ed for. A great many of The paintings of Mrs. Vera Newcomer of Mount Joy, are being displayed for the next several weeks at Norlanco Family Health Center off Route 230 be- tween Mount Joy and Eli- zabethtown. Also on display are paint- ings of the late Harry M. Book, which are owned by Mrs. Newcomer. Mrs. Newcomer, the the road-building iobs that used to be farmed out at high prices to outside con- tractors, are now being carr- ied out directly by the town- ship government, with tre- mendous savings in cost, and with the knowledge that a job has been done right. Vera Newcomer's art on display at Norlanco Newcomer of Mount Joy, is a registered nurse who took up painting as a hobby after she had been married and had a son, Lee. Lee, who teaches industrial arts at Lower Merion Junior High School in Ardmore and who has taught at the University of Maryland, is her “most severe critic,” Mrs. Newcomer says. (continued on page 2)
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