A "no sewer" sign in Milford (Photo by Frances Ruth Harris)
To the Editor:
This is in response to a recent editorial entitled “Clean River/No Sewer Is Misleading Slogan.”
The slogan is direct and appropriate: concerned residents want the Delaware River to be clean and don’t see how central sewage coming down Route 6/209 through Milford Township and into the Borough accomplishes that.
The editorial goes on to ask, “How many people receiving this postcard in the mail or sticking the similar sign on their lawn know that the Delaware River already has treated sewage plant effluent entering its waters from at least five different sources upstream from Milford?”
All of us are aware of this fact, and don’t understand the logic of keeping the Delaware clean by dumping more treated sewage into it from the Westfall Plant.
Milford Borough sits on arguably the best soil for OLDS (On Lot Disposal Systems) filtration and lies from 60 to 100 feet above the Delaware. The Borough and its individual cesspool and septic systems are not a threat to the Delaware and never have been.
What gets lost is the fact that this is all about planned high density Commercial and Residential development which will stretch to within half mile of Milford Borough along Rt. 6/209.
We have five to six businesses in the Milford Borough commercial district that may benefit from central sewage, although, at this point, they have no idea what their total cost is going to be. Additionally, there has never been an economic impact study done as to what the financial burden to the approximately 100+ commercial/residential establishments will be, who don’t need central sewage but will be forced to connect.
This study needs to be carefully reviewed, thought out and have public participation at each step, which has not happened during this pandemic.
Fred Weber
Weber