FIX THE FUMES in Coatesville, PA!

For at least several years, the residents of Coatesville, PA, have been subject to the periodic off-gassing of huge volumes of aerosolized human waste and toxic fumes (sewage vapors) from the open-air containment pools of the local waste/water treatment facility located at:

• 598 Gibbons Ave #100, Coatesville, PA 19320, owned by Pennsylvania American Water Company (in the borough of South Coatesville).

It is our belief that the concentration of pollutants in the surface-level air during these off-gassing events FAR EXCEEDS the standards set by both the federal Clean Air Act (CAA) and the Pennsylvania Pollution Control Act (PPCA).  (We acknowledge that legally-admissible air quality measurements from off-gassing event(s) are very valuable to this effort.)

It is our belief, therefore, that Coatesville, PA residents (especially those living closest to the treatment plant) have been (and continue to be) the subject of persistent environmental contamination at the hands of the Pennsylvania American Water Company.  Given the well-known nature of this problem, this also points to Criminal Negligence on the part of the Pennsylvania American Water Company.

At my home, which is in South Coatesville (about 1/2 mile from the treatment plant), these off-gassing events settle on top of us about once per week, at so-far random-seeming intervals.  In a matter of minutes, our neighborhood become suffocated in a cloud of sewage vapor, sometimes for many hours.  The odor is so foul that it's always required that my family seek shelter indoors.  In nice weather (when we would like to be outside, or have the windows open), this means we must keep our windows shut and stay indoors, or leave town, just to breathe something other than sewage vapor. 

The shape of the valley, the location of the treatment plant, and the prevailing east-west winds often trap these sewage vapors against the residents of Coatesville (especially those in the borough of South Coatesville) for hours on end.  I moved to South Coatesville in 2017 and the frequency and duration of these sewage off-gassing events has, without question, increased since that time.

Officials from the South Coatesville board of supervisors were aware of this issue 18 months ago: "“There is still a problem with their digester system,” South Coatesville Borough Council President Renée Carey said at the Aug. 13 [2019] meeting."  source: https://lancasteronline.com/news/regional/wastewater-plant-kicks-up-odor-and-road-finally-gets-repaved-in-south-coatesville/article_c4be3a64-c11d-11e9-a7e9-6bf58309a8bd.html 

WE hereby DEMAND:

1) that the City of Coatesville and the Borough of South Coatesville apply effective oversight to the operation of this waste/water treatment facility, operated by the Pennsylvania American Water Company (PAWC), and/or forcibly petition the appropriate government agency to do so, and

2) that reforms be affected, beginning immediately, to bring all off-gassing from this waste/water treatment plant to within the standards set by the CAA and the PPCA, such as by installing permanent covers/lids over the open-air pools or by other proven methods.

Sincerely,

the undersigned