Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler), Majority Chair of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, advised religious groups with water supplies regulated by DEP not to let them on their property to protect their First Amendment rights.

The comments came at the end of a June 12 informational meeting on House Bill 707 (Zimmerman-R- Lancaster) that would exempt any facility owned by a church or an association of churches, including schools, daycare centers and camps, from the need to meet Safe Drinking Water Act clean water standards.

Comments From Presenters

Representatives of several Christian schools, daycare and nursery schools in Lancaster and York counties recounted their experiences with DEP staff in complying with Safe Drinking Water Act requirements.

Jonathan Zimmerman, Weaverland Conference Schools, Penn Township, Lancaster County, describe the experience of the Christian school his children attend, but also acted as a spokesperson for 11 other similar schools in Berks, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon and Perry counties.

The school has 69 students, a 6 classroom facility and 32 patrons.

He described how in 2010 a DEP official stopped unannounced at the school and knocked on the main door.  He said having an unknown person show up at the school caused an “ominous concern” for teachers because the Nickel Mines School shooting happened only 4 years before in Lancaster County.

Zimmerman said the DEP official told the teacher who answered the door the school was in violation of the state Safe Drinking Water Act.  DEP then began sending letters threatening to penalize the school.

At a March 5, 2011 meeting with 6 DEP officials, Zimmerman said they “coerced us into signing a Consent Order and Agreement under duress.”  He said later the school representatives were without legal representation.

After that meeting, he outlined the steps the school took to comply, including several rounds of water testing, installation of water contact tanks and other equipment.  DEP required them to take out an ultraviolet light system that was used to kill bacteria.

He said the school has spent a total of $25,000 so far to comply with the requirements.

Zimmerman said the other schools he represents are facing very similar circumstances.

Daryl Sensenig, Little Britain Mennonite School, Little Britain Township, Lancaster County, said the school his children attend has 42 students, a 3 classroom structure and 18 patrons.

Their initial contact with DEP was a phone call to the school in late 2009 to set up a meeting about violations of the state Safe Drinking Water Act.

Sensenig said they were forced to sign a consent order and agreement in May 2010 with deadlines on actions they needed to take to comply.  They were given until July 2011 to comply.

He said the school was required to hire a certified water system operator to do the testing DEP required.  They also had to hire an engineer to design and approve the water system for DEP.

Sensenig said the engineering work determine their school did not have adequate space to house the water treatment equipment so they had to build an addition to the basement of the school.

He said so far the school has spent $25,000 on construction of the water room and treatment equipment, $7,600 on water testing fees from 2010-2012 and subsequent water testing and maintenance has totaled $20,5000 since 2013.

“This has created a substantial financial burden on our school,” said Sensenig.

Dorothy Shultz, Christ Lutheran Church, Fileys, Dillsburg, York County, operates a daycare center and nursery school with less than 50 students and has a well serving a total of 135 people..

Schultz said in December 2017, DEP sent them a questionnaire to fill out about the source of water they were using, then heard nothing back for some time.

In a phone call from a DEP official in November 2018, their Learning Center Director was told they needed to meet with DEP and that there was a possibility that the water would be shut off on that date if the church could not produce certification papers indicating how the well was constructed.

Schultz said a fire at the church destroyed many church records in 2010 and after contacting the drilling company they could not come up with the records in the 2 weeks until the meeting with DEP.

But, she said, it was not until a December 2018 meeting with DEP that they were made aware of the changes in regulations for wells used by churches and daycare facilities.

At that meeting they were served with a Do Not Consumer Order even though they had been using the water since 2002 and tested the water periodically over that time. They had to purchase bottled water for all uses at the daycare and nursery school after the order.

Schultz said they had to complete water testing, replace the well cap, install a sediment filter and ultraviolet light, install a flow meter and make other changes.

With volunteer help, the total costs incurred to date are $5,993.

Schultz said they are close to certification, but the cost of water testing for the remainder of the year is estimated to be $4,865.

Once they receive their permit, Schultz said they are required to hire a certified plant operator to maintain the system and do water testing at a cost of $2,000 a year.

Overall, the on gong annual cost is estimated to be $9,000, which Schultz said will “adversely affect their missions to share our resources to help those not as blessed as us.”

She provided a timeline of interactions with DEP.

Lisa Daniels, Director, DEP’s Bureau of Safe Drinking Water, focused her comments on the impact the proposed changes in law included in House Bill 707 (Zimmerman-R-Lancaster) would have on the Safe Drinking Water Program.

She was not told before the meeting what the experiences of the other presenters were before they shared them with the Committee, so she could not respond to their comments.

She did say from the descriptions of their facilities, they would be regulated as non-community transient water supplies since they involve children at school and in daycare and could be used by the public.

She noted eliminating these facilities from the state program as House Bill 707 would do would put Pennsylvania at risk of losing primacy for administering the federal Safe Drinking Water Act which requires the regulation of non-community transient water supplies.

If Pennsylvania loses primacy, the $100 million in federal funds the Commonwealth receives each year to fund drinking water system improvements and $5.5 million in support to pay for inspectors and permit reviewers for the program would be lost.

There would need to be a change in federal law to make the change proposed in House Bill 707.

Rep. Metcalfe’s Comments

After hearing the comments from presenters, Rep. Metcalfe said at the end of the meeting, “My advice to the community at large if you have a church and you have an official from the DEP show up at that church and they are not there to worship with you, but they're there to regulate, you don't sign a consent decree without consulting an attorney and I would ask them to leave my property, if they are there to try and regulate you. 

“If they are there to worship, I would invite them to stay, but if they are there to regulate, I would ask them to leave and come back when they are ready to worship because it's a church. First Amendment protections, I wouldn't give those up to a bureaucrat sent to regulate.

“So this'll be a continued debate I'm sure, but it's interesting it seems to have flared up more in the recent past when it's been in a law that's been in effect since the 1980's, so something has changed. We want to get to the bottom of what it is.”

Click Here to watch a video of the meeting.  Click Here for Rep. Metcalfe’s comments.

Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler) serves as Majority Chair of the House Environmental Committee and can be contacted by calling 717-783-1707 or sending email to: dmetcalf@pahousegop.com. Rep. Greg Vitali (D-Delaware) serves as Minority Chair and can be contacted by calling 717-787-7647 or sending email to: gvitali@pahouse.net.

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