KCSD Hand Dryer Discussion Continues, Board Representative to Meet with Mill Hall Borough Sewer Authority

By Christopher Miller

BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP –

“Electric hand dryers are a breeding ground for bacteria,” school board member Chris Scaff said to the school board during Thursday night’s voting meeting.

Scaff was referring to a recent agenda line item regarding the purchase of new hand dryers at Central Mountain Middle School, replacing the need for paper towels in the bathrooms. The most recent problem as brought to the board by Mill Hall Borough President Tony Walker, was recent findings of paper towels coming through the sewer line from the middle school into Mill Hall Borough.

“Mill Hall Borough wants us to do this because it is a problem, but I haven’t heard about this problem until here recently. I make a motion that we table this until the Mill Hall Sewer Authority meeting coming up next week, then take it back up for consideration after their meeting. The biggest question I have is what if we go through the expense to buy these hand dryers and the problem is still there? Then what? We will be throwing money out the door for something we don’t know will fix the problem. I suspect there is a lot more to this problem than us needing to buy hand dryers.”

School board member Butch Knauff said that the problem has existing for the last 3.5 years since he has been on the school board, adding that it was talked about numerous times and that lines had been scoped and that they are “looking good,” but down the line, paper towels from the middle school are coming down the line and that it is “assumed that students are flushing these down the toilets.”

Not only paper towels, but grease, was also evident to be filling the sewer lines as well.

“Grease is a problem in the lines,” Elisabeth Lynch added, Borough Council last month invited me to come to their meeting and I will be attending next week. Paper towels are co-mingled with grease in the sewer lines that the school district owns and those have not been camera-ed. The borough-owned lines have been scoped. There are questions we don’t have answers to, but we cannot distinguish where the paper towels can be coming from. What have we implemented at the schools? Why is it not effective? Why do we have grease going down the sewer lines from us to the borough? Does the problem go away when schools close for the summer? I think we should table this until we can gather more details so we can do the responsible and reasonable thing.”

“I hate to see Mill Hall get to the point of saying that we need to find another place to play baseball,” board member Jeff Johnston said. “I don’t see that happening but they could. This could be an easy fix, we have hand dryers in this whole building and we have had no documented illnesses being caused by hand dryers here. They are a relative cheap, one-time fix to eliminate a problem.”

Board member Tom Cannon, a former sewer authority board member and sewer authority worker for Bald Eagle Township, spoke up about his experiences working with the sewer lines.

“I can tell you the number one problem is grease, then followed by small articles of clothing and feminine products,” Cannon said. “Paper towels, unless they are large towels, goes through the system like toilet paper. Maybe they should look in the grease traps. If you are concerned about paper towels, get thinner ones and they will grind up like toilet paper. They are probably cheaper than electric hand dryers anyway.”

Dr. William Baldino added, “I never liked blown-air dryers, never looked them up, but on a theoretical basis you are blowing bacteria around a room.”

“Secondly, grease is also associated with the problem. Where we live we put grease in a jar and throw it away in the trash. What can we do to limit grease getting into the sewer line? Paper towels could be kids throwing them into the toilet and that this is a behavior problem we should be addressing, not by putting in different appliances. If it is in the kitchen it could be equipment or a behavior problem there which is something to address. It is not a one-time fix, these (hand dryers) will be breaking on a regular basis and will need attention.”

A motion was made by Knauff to table the vote until after the Mill Hall Borough Sewer Authority meeting to learn more about the issues plaguing the sewer lines.