1. Metz 1
Lower Macungie Township, located in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, is a wonderful
place to live. With a current population estimated to be around 31,000, the community is
welcoming, the schools are great, and the natural features are pleasant.1
Two streams run through
this township: Little Lehigh Creek and Swabia Creek, both offshoots of the Lehigh River. They
are used for recreational purposes such as fishing for trout in the spring. This community also
two environmental conservation zones: South Mountain Conservation Area and the Pool
Wildlife Sanctuary. These places preserve the natural habitats of the wildlife, providing a safe
area where the environment cannot be disturbed.
Within the last few decades, however, Lower Macungie Township has become incredibly
urbanized. Total residential land use increased from 32.2% in 2007 to 50% in 2009.2
This
massive increase in development has had adverse affects on the environment of this township.
Effects of urbanization on the streams in this neighborhood should be considered the highlight of
this community’s problems. First and foremost, this community needs an improved storm water
management system. After that, Best Management Practices need to begin being properly
implemented, both with existing commercial areas and future development sites. This township
is also the home to the Lehigh Valley South Industrial Park, which contributes a large amount of
impervious surface to the flooding problem. While not as immediately pressing a concern,
citizens in Lower Macungie Township need to become more aware of the effects that their
actions are having on the ground beneath their feet. This does not just include the residents, but
the trash collectors as well.
1
“Sewer Capacity Assurance & Rehabilitation Program” lowermac.com, October 2009,
http://www.lowermac.com/library/file/public_works/LCA%20SCARP%20Approach%20Outline%20FINAL%20(11-3-
09).pdf.
2
“Lower Macungie Township Statistics” lowermac.com. May 2009.
http://www.lowermac.com/clients/LMT/client_files/file/Statistics/About%20Us%20Municipal%20Profile%20updat
ed.pdf.

2. Metz 2
The massive, seemingly unending amount of residential development has had an adverse
effect on the stream systems in Lower Macungie Township. The truth of this is obvious to
anybody who has driven past the Little Lehigh Creek. This stream runs parallel to Spring Creek
Road, a main thoroughfare of traffic-heavy Route 100. Whenever it rains, this road becomes
flooded. Large sections of this road become covered in river water, and cars are forced to make
otherwise unnecessary detours. Spring Creek Road is not even right next to the path of the
stream; the Little Lehigh River is at least several hundred feet away from the road. Despite this
large amount of grassy setback, the road still becomes flooded. Increased urbanization has
affected the hydrological balance of the stream. Flood peaks and frequency have both increased
to the point that it has become a problem. The geomorphology of the river has been affected as
well. Consider this picture. Much of the natural canopy has been eroded away to the flooding,
which causes instability in the river system. Upon closer inspection of the tree on the right hand
side, we can see that the roots have been exposed from unnaturally high levels of erosion from
the sides of this stream system. In the middle of the picture on the far side of the stream, we see a
raised patch of light brown grassy underbrush. Directly underneath this is a mud cliff almost
perpendicular with the level of the water. This disturbance of the natural borders of the stream

3. Metz 3
contributes to increased levels of flood peaks farther down the stream system. This stream has
lost much of its pool-riffle structure, showing that the natural processes of the stream are off
balance. In Winding Brook neighborhood, farther downstream from this photograph, the
community playground frequently gets flooded. The high level of impervious cover surrounding
this stream suggests that it will enter a critical condition relatively soon if left unchecked.
Apart from the visual observations, this stream has been affected in other ways as well.
As of 2008, the Little Lehigh Creek was placed on Pennsylvania’s list of impaired waters, in
accordance with their 303(d) legislation obligations.3
The causes for impairment are listed as
urban runoff/storm sewers, siltation, and agriculture. Swabia Creek, a smaller stream branching
off of the Little Lehigh Creek, was impaired for the same reasons ten years sooner. Both streams
have been given thirteen years Total Maximum Daily Load goals.4
By looking at the reasons for
impairment, it is clear that increased urbanization has caused increased storm water runoff and
stream degradation that is affecting the environment of the stream itself, as well as the
surrounding areas. Even the wildlife is adversely affected. One fisherman commented that the
trout he normally tries to catch have been fewer and farther in-between than in previous years.
Little Lehigh Creek and Swabia Creek affect more than just fishermen, however. Little
Lehigh is designated as a potable water supply, and it should be maintained as such. For most of
the neighborhood developments in this area, the water supplier is Lehigh Valley Authority. The
Lower Macungie water supply comes from deep wells drilled into local groundwater supplies.
The LVA does a good job at testing the water supply for inorganic, radioactive, volatile organic,
3
“2010 Pennsylvania Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report - Streams, Category 5
Waterbodies, Pollutants Requiring a TMDL” Integrated Water Quality Report 2010, Date Accessed: April 7, 2011,
http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/water_quality_standards/10556/integrated_water_qu
ality_report_-_2010/682562.
4
Ibid.

4. Metz 4
and various other contaminants.5
Currently, the water supply passes inspection with flying
colors, with little more than chlorine treatment being administrated. However, areas in and
around Lower Macungie Township, including Alburtis, Zionsville, and Vera Cruz rely directly
on private well systems. The surface river systems need to be protected upstream to help prevent
contamination of groundwater watersheds in the areas mentioned above.
The increased storm water runoff created from rapid development has to be monitored
from an infrastructural standpoint as well. Approximately 55% of Lower Macungie Township is
connected to sewer drainage systems. This system, known as the Western Lehigh Interceptor,
connects to the Leigh County Authority conveyance system and is transported to Allentown’s
Kline Island wastewater treatment plant.6
This means that all of the drainage systems in Lower
Macungie drain into the same pipe system and are transported to a facility which is already
covering the load of densely populated Allentown city. The increased storm water back up is
placing a heavy strain on this treatment facility; most of the residents, however, fail to realize
that. The township’s Environmental Advisory Council has already taken action to address the
issue. In a joint agreement with other Western Lehigh municipalities, they have commenced
work on a corrective action plan entitled SCARP (Sewer Capacity And Reassurance Program)
which has been designed to address the inflow problem. SCARP is a countywide plan to evaluate
and repair the municipal sewerage systems on a house by house basis.7
SCARP workers travel
from house to house to inspect the conditions of the household’s water system. More often than
5
“Water Quality Report 2009- Central Lehigh Division” lehighcountyauthority.org, Date Accessed: April 8, 2011,
http://www.lehighcountyauthority.org/files/CLD.pdf.
6
“Official Sewage Facilities Plan Revision” Lehighcountyauthority.org, last modified: November 17, 2009,
http://www.lehighcountyauthority.org/files/LCA-SCARP-PublicNotice.pdf.
7
“Sewer Capacity Assurance & Rehabilitation Program” lowermac.com, October 2009,
http://www.lowermac.com/library/file/public_works/LCA%20SCARP%20Approach%20Outline%20FINAL%20(11-3-
09).pdf.

5. Metz 5
not, they find that the system needs to be repaired. SCARP is expected to cost $10,132,000.8
Part
of SCARP is to inform the community of the hazards of wet weather inflow, and what
contributes to it: patio drain areas, exterior stairway drain, roof downspouts, and basement
flooding. The main conveyance system for Lower Macungie was built in the 1960s and 1970s;
needless to say, it is about time this system got revised. In addition to SCARP, the
Environmental Advisory Council is currently drafting a zoning ordinance to protect at minimum
75 feet of the wetland buffer areas surrounding the Little Lehigh. The ordinance will prohibit
construction and dirt removal to prevent the flood plain from being further degraded.
Apart from directly repairing the existing sanitary water system, Lower Macungie needs
to encourage the implementation of Best Management Practices (BMPs). Structural BMPs have
potential to curb the effects of storm water runoff. Detention ponds need to be properly dispersed
throughout the township. While there are forty one detention ponds in the area (according to the
map), they are clustered together. Not every neighborhood or commercial zone has their own
detention pond. Instead, the Western Lehigh Interceptor drainage system transports that water to
the next nearest detention pond. This should be changed; if every neighborhood had its own
detention pond, the amount of storm water back up would be significantly decreased. In the
words of Mr. Laliberte, resident of Ancient Oaks, a neighborhood without a detention pond, “it
seems as if water is designed to simply flood straight into the river.” Another structural BMP
which could be improved upon are bio-retentions, which are areas of plants and grass in between
parking spaces to absorb water. These bio-retention areas provide a pervious surface where storm
water can properly seep into the ground, in a natural, vertical movement. The photograph on the
next page was taken at the Trexlertown Shopping Center, at the northern edge of Lower
8
“Official Sewage Facilities Plan Revision” Lehighcountyauthority.org, last modified: November 17, 2009,
http://www.lehighcountyauthority.org/files/LCA-SCARP-PublicNotice.pdf.

6. Metz 6
Macungie. This large parking lot is broken up by elevated platforms of gravel which are
evidently used to direct people in the correct direction while driving. Currently, the only
rainwater caught by these structures is the rain that falls directly on it. These mounts of gravel
could be replaced with surface level bio-retention areas. These flat zones of grass would provide
pervious absorption areas that would significantly decrease horizontal flow of water. The
presence of grass and trees would also slow down the process of natural rainfall, allowing the
present rainwater drainage system to transport more manageable loads of water at a time. The
bio-retention areas could also be expanded to cover a few more feet of surface area; large
sections of this shopping center’s parking lot are never used. Those unused sections amount to
little more than contributing to the impervious surface areas in this county.
Nonstructural BMPs, which are more involved with the planning stage of development,
also need to be considered in this township. For future neighborhood construction sites,
developers in Lower Macungie should consider decreasing the widths of the roads going through
the neighborhoods. In Danfield Run neighborhood, I measured the streets width to be
approximately 29 feet, 4inches across. Based off of my Dodge Caravan, the average car is about
6 feet wide. This means that in most developments in Lower Macungie, there is potentially room
for four cars side by side on these roads. There is no need for that much road space inside the
neighborhoods. Every house has a driveway, so the extra parking space clearly is not necessary.
In Brookside Villa, the streets get up to 37.5 feet wide; this unnecessary amount of impervious

7. Metz 7
surface should not be present in future construction zones. Along the same lines, house setbacks
from the street should be decreased as well to shorten driveway length. Fortunately, by
comparing Winding Brook development (built in the 1970s) with Penn’s Meadow (built in
2007); it appears that developers are beginning to take decreased setback into consideration.
Pervious pavement, another planning stage BMP, is currently not present in Lower Macungie but
should be implemented. Future developments should also consider using clustered development
practices when mapping out a neighborhood. Most current neighborhoods in Lower Macungie
have properties that are spread out, which consequently leaves little room for pure recreational
space.
There are several industrial plants in Lower Macungie Township that also warrant
attention. Lehigh Valley South Industrial Park is the home of several large office and shipping
buildings of Johnstone Supply, Cooper Tires, and the Lehigh Valley Group. These companies
have a lot of impervious surface for the multitudes of trucks that carry shipments away from the
industrial park. Surrounding these buildings is a trench to capture storm water runoff. However,
with the extent of storm water overflow present in this township, this system surrounding the
industrial park easily gets flooded out. That water then finds its way into Swabia Creek, located
not too far off from the industrial park itself. Chemicals from the trucks and the trucks
themselves will mingle with the storm water and get into Lower Macungie’s stream system.
Along the same lines, Mack Truck Corporation is located just down the road. Based on
observations from driving around this facility, there is no in-place method for redirecting storm
water to a drainage system. Undoubtedly, chemical runoff from the large truck yard flows into
the surrounding area and seeps into the groundwater system. Another industry in this township is
the Victaulic Careers factory, an international company that produces mechanical pipe joining

8. Metz 8
systems.9
In 2007, this factory was compelled to use non-flame-joining methods to reduce
emissions of Particle Matter emanating from their factory.10
This shows that Victaulic is trying to
control its air emissions, but it has not been completely successful. It is not a surprise to me that
while most of the houses built in Lower Macungie are of good quality, the single neighborhood
located near Victaulic appear to be of lower quality. Buckeye Pipeline Company, located at the
edge of Lower Macungie is another point source to look at; this company will be discussed later
in this paper.
On multiple levels, Lower Macungie citizens and businesses need to become more
educated of how their decisions affect the environment. Some could argue that demographics are
an attributing factor to the neglect of the environment. Lower Macungie is 93.8% Caucasian,
with 75.3% of the jobs being in management, professionals, and sales.11
The majority of this
township falls under the middle to upper-middle class on the economic ladder; therefore, they
can afford to be wasteful. One point source is the Walmart shopping complex and the dozen or
so strip mall stores that came with it. Constructed in 2001, Walmart store #2461 attracts
thousands of shoppers daily. This has caused a massive increase in traffic going through Lower
Macungie. This automobile volume increase increases smoke being released into the air, oil and
other chemicals being washed into the groundwater, and the amount of oil being purchased.
Renewable energy resources are being far outstripped by the immense quantity of cars lining up
at the local Wawa, conveniently located just down the street from Walmart. As mentioned
before, this massive shopping complex also consists of large areas of impervious surface in the
9
“LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)” Victaulic.com, date accessed: April 14, 2011,
http://www.victaulic.com/docs/lit/wp-15.pdf.
10
Ibid.
11
“Lower Macungie Township Statistics” lowermac.com, last modified May 2009,
http://www.lowermac.com/clients/LMT/client_files/file/Statistics/About%20Us%20Municipal%20Profile%20updat
ed.pdf.

9. Metz 9
form of parking lots and the sheer size of the buildings. The few commercial and recreational
zones in this township are so far apart and surrounded by main roads that most residents are
forced to drive to “do” anything, further putting a strain on nonrenewable resources. According
to Scott Alderfer, head of the Environmental Advisory Council, Lower Macungie is the 3rd
largest/3rd
densest municipality in the state. Developing the residential and commercial zones to
that extent did not come without its own environmental consequences.
Citizens could also be more aware of what is actually happening with their trash and
recyclables. Trash collection is handled by a national business called Waste Management. WM
collects curbside trash and recyclables for the entire township. This waste goes to the Grand
Central Sanitary Landfill in Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania. This is a nonhazardous waste landfill
about 50 minutes northeast of the township. The downside of this landfill, where 80% of the
inflow is municipal solid waste, is that it really is just a dumping ground.12
There is no onsite
storage or treatment of waste prior to disposal. While this is not solely Lower Macungie’s
concern, an effort should be made to construct a resource recovery facility similar to the one in
Lancaster County. The benefits of this facility far outstrip the usefulness of merely dumping
waste into a landfill, which is exactly what happens in Lower Macungie. Waste Management
runs 16 waste-to-energy plants; perhaps with some large scale organization, Lower Macungie
could take better responsibility with their waste.13
These citizens do not have much input into their recycling as well. Waste Management
collects recyclables in a single green tub placed at the curbside. This means that other than
separating paper products, there is no sorting of materials conducted. Residents are not even
12
“Facility Detail” CHWMEG Inc, last modified 2011, http://www.chwmeg.org/asp/search/detail.asp?ID=268.
13
“Waste Management About Us” wm.com, last modified 2011, http://www.wm.com/about/index.jsp.

10. Metz 10
required to rinse out or wash plastic bottles or metals, although it is suggested.14
This single
stream of recycling method places little responsibility on the residents to manage their own
waste. It was not even until 2008 that Waste Management introduced a separate, rear loading
vehicle specifically for recyclables.15
While it is nice that the township provides free green
recycle bins for its community, the residents should take a higher level of responsibility when
dealing with their recyclables. From an observational note, Mr. Laliberte believes that “people
throw out too much trash”. While he makes an effort to recycle and reuse materials, he notices
that most of his other neighbors put out twice the amount of trash as he does for collection. On a
positive note, Lower Macungie does provide the Hinkle Transfer Yard Waste service. At this
facility across from the township building, citizens can turn their yard recycling into mulch,
which can then be reused.
Other than proper solid waste management methods, citizens of Lower Macungie need to
be better informed about other ways they are adversely affecting the environment. Many
residents like their lawns to look good (the front lawns, at any rate), so various chemicals are
applied to ensure that happens. Pesticides such as the product Round-Up are used improve the
aesthetic quality of the grass. Use of this product introduces glyphosate, isoproplyamine salt,
pelargonic acid and related fatty acids, and other potentially hazardous chemicals into the environment.
Various groups around the township can be hired to come in and spray a chemical on the grass which
makes it look “greener”; this unnatural alteration of the grass ecosystem introduces even more
chemicals into the soil, and potentially, the groundwater. Citizens, as well as real estate developers, also
need to be cautious of where they decide to start digging. The Environmental Advisory Council is
14
“Curbside Recycling for Lower Macungie Township Residents” lowermac.com, Date Accessed: April 10, 2011,
http://www.lowermac.com/library/file/public_works/Curbsite_Recycling.pdf.
15
“Public Works-Recycling” lowermac.com, date accessed: April 10, 2011,
http://www.lowermac.com/main_public_works_recycling.cfm.

11. Metz 11
beginning to create a permit system for future zoning ordinances, so people know exactly where not to
dig up. This has become a concern because currently, underground storage tanks are not regulated in
this township. Residents interested in landscaping have been accidently digging into underground septic
systems, tanks, and even some pipes. Digging up pipes in the township can be hazardous- particularly if
they belong to Buckeye Pipeline Company. Buckeye Company is a network of pipelines, terminals, and
storage facilities serving major oil companies, refineries, and end users of petroleum products.16
The
bulk storage terminals seen in this picture can hold up to five million barrels of refined petroleum, and
the company has a web of pipes transporting massive quantities of petroleum all across the Lehigh
Valley.17
It would be disastrous for the surrounding environment if any of Buckeye’s underground
pipelines were punctured simply because a resident was unaware of what lies beneath them. From
driving by, I counted over 30 of these large storage terminals in Lower Macungie, and judging from the
picture, it does not seem like the construction crew particularly cared for keeping the pre-construction
environment intact.
Based off of the observations noted in this paper, the number one priority of this county should
be fixing the storm water runoff problem with the Little Lehigh Creek and Swabia Creek. These rivers
16
“Buckeye Partners, L.P.” fundinguniverse.com, date accessed: April 8, 2011,
http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Buckeye-Partners-LP-Company-History.html.
17
Ibid.

12. Metz 12
frequently become over flooded affect the surrounding environment, including roads nearby. The first
thing this township should do is curb the never ending urbanization of otherwise eco-friendly plots of
land. After slowing down urbanization rates, the next highest priority should be for industries and
commercial zones to implement structural BMPs to help stop river overflowing and to prevent
potentially hazardous chemicals from entering the water system. Next, nonstructural BMPS should be
integrated into the urbanization plans already in motion. Corporations such as Victaulic and Waste
Management need to improve their operating systems in order to properly “go green.” Finally, citizens
of Lower Macungie need to become more aware of their environment and how much everyday
practices affect it. Driving less, not applying chemicals to simply make the grass look good, taking more
responsibility with recycling; these are little things which could improve the environment. From the
viewpoint of someone who has lived here my entire life, Lower Macungie is a wonderful township to live
in. Upon closer inspection, however, it is evident that there are certain areas in this community that
could use improved environmental planning.