The Borough of Akron has been making steps to improve stormwater management, drainage improvements and stream restoration as a means of increasing groundwater recharge, protecting the water supply and improving water quality. Other improvements include addressing sewer issues and accessing water meter data.

Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) refers to a collection of structures designed to gather stormwater and discharge it into local streams and rivers. MS4 is a Pennsylvania state-mandated program, and the Borough of Akron is required to comply to its requirements. The goal of MS4 is to reduce sediment erosion and pollution and to stop pollution from going into the Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay.

Since the projects necessary to fulfill these needed improvements are cost prohibitive for the Borough of Akron's budget, two grants were applied for and received. The first grant application was the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) grant. Akron was successfully awarded $120,000 and was then able to begin working on a streambank restoration project and rain garden project at Roland Park.

After receiving the first grant, Sean Molchany, assistant borough manager, worked with Land Studies of Lititz to write a grant application to the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC). A plus is that $120,000 from the NFWF grant was used as an in-kind requirement for this second application instead of coming out of Akron's budget. This expanded the scope of the project and SRBC awarded the borough $748,770.

The Borough of Akron's water supply wells and associated source water protection areas are located within Roland Park, the 85-acre public park owned and maintained by Akron Borough. Currently, projects in the park are in the design stage and the design should be complete within two months. The design will then be submitted to the state for approval and permitting. After that, the project will be bid out.

Some of the objectives for the proposed project include reducing bed and bank degradation; protecting public water source wells and sanitary sewer lines from further eroding; replacing a damaged pond outlet pipe and re-routing the runoff; re-establishing 1.5 acres of floodplain with wetland pockets to promote infiltration, surface water recharge, reduce flooding and filter pollutants; and installing rain gardens.

Stream restoration in Roland Park will involve relocating the existing stream and widening it to allow for wider absorption into the ground for less erosion. In addition to re-routing the stream, a rain garden will be constructed. This is a depressed area in the landscape that allows rainwater to soak into the ground. Rain gardens also help filter out pollutants in runoff and provide food and shelter for wildlife. A grass-lined swale will also be constructed and will act as a filter for impurities that would ultimately end up in the Chesapeake Bay. Planted grasses will look natural around the park and will add to the park's esthetics.

According to Sue Davidson, borough manager, the plantings will add beauty to the park. Another improvement that Davidson is proud of relates to an inflow and infiltration issue. Towns in Lancaster County have sanitary sewer issues because of the age of the sewer lines. Sometimes they are cracked, but the cracks must be located first before they can be repaired. They can be deep underground. One way to determine where cracks are located is by pulling up manholes at night during storm events to see if water is flowing or not. Tom Murray Jr., public works supervisor, has been locating and addressing sanitary sewer problems. Davidson said that the biggest improvement was the work on 10th Street, where 1,000 linear feet of sanitary sewer was replaced.

In their daily work together, Murray and Molchany have also been mapping out and documenting all new and old sanitary and water infrastructures, roadways, signage, streets and waterlines.

Finally, another improvement that is almost completed is the replacing of water meters. Because of the new water meters, the data is radio read, so borough staff can now drive down the road to read all meters. Before the process took two weeks, but now it takes half of a day.