Facing a consent order from the state Department of Environmental Protection, Pleasant Hills Sewer Authority, has requested more time from federal and local officials to prepare a strategy to stop infiltration problems that pollute local streams. The authority oversees a treatment facility that serves 8,300 customers in six South Hills communities.

"We've been told to put together a plan, but we've requested additional time to have one in place," authority Manager Jean Crane said.

"We know it's coming,'' Ms. Crane said of the consent order, similar to one imposed several years ago upon ALCOSAN and its 83-member communities.

In September, officials from the DEP and the Allegheny County Health Department met with authority members and gave 90 days to provide a plan to eliminate the overflow in the Lewis Run watershed. The action would have to be completed within two years.

Ms. Crane explained that the discharge of untreated sewage occurs in wet weather when groundwater infiltrates sanitary sewer lines and overloads the pumping station.

The treatment facility on Cochran Mills Road in neighboring Jefferson Hills typically handles 3 million gallons of sewage a day.

The Sewer Authority, started in 1952, has a six-member board of directors and nine plant employees. It serves residents of Pleasant Hills, Baldwin Borough, Jefferson Hills and small sections of Bethel Park, South Park and Whitehall.

It's operating budget is funded by fees assessed its customers.

"We are evaluating the situation and looking at different corrective options," Ms. Crane said.

She also said that meetings will be held with local municipal officials to discuss the estimated $15 million effort.

One option being considered is construction of an underground equalization tank to temporarily store excessive untreated water. This could cost as much as $10 million. Another is construction of an additional treatment facility.

"Our residents' sewer rates will likely increase," Pleasant Hills Councilman Bill Trimbath said. He criticized the DEP corrective time frame as "unrealistic."

As chairman of the borough's sewer rehabilitation committee, he was involved in the DEP-mandated sewer improvements to eliminate basement flooding to homes in 2002. It took a year to put together a realistic strategy and he negotiated deadline extensions with the DEP to complete the more than $2 million project.

In Baldwin Borough, 40 percent of the residents are Pleasant Hills customers, using sewer lines in the Lick Run watershed. The authority told Baldwin officials during the summer to address inflow and infiltration problems in these sewer lines connected to the Pleasant Hills authority treatment plant.

"The costs associated with the necessary corrective efforts are going to impact our operating budget and could lead to increased sewer rates," Borough Manager Tim Little said.