Butler Area Sewer Authority Tuesday told Chester Engineering to move forward with the bidding for the authority's first holding tank.

The Deshon holding tank, to be built next to the Butler Township salt dome on Sawmill Road in the township park, is the first of seven to be built throughout the township and city of Butler to help with raw sewage overflows caused by stormwater.

The tank project is the result of a consent agreement imposed by the state Department of Environmental Protection to end overflows caused by groundwater and stormwater infiltrating the sanitary sewer system.

An Act 537 plan, approved by all municipalities served by BASA — Butler, East Butler, and the townships of Butler, Center, Connoquenessing, Oakland and Summit — calls for the construction of seven holding tanks, which will hold water-laden sewage and slowly release it to the treatment plant.

The construction cost for all seven tanks had been estimated at $10 million of an overall $30 million project.

BASA board member Mike English is opposed to the tank design picked by Chester Engineering, the authority's consulting engineer for the project, and approved by the board in September.

Tuesday's meeting and motion to bid the project met more of English's protests, this time asking that Chester change the specifications for the tanks to include a higher grade of wire used to compress the walls of the tanks.

The tank design calls for wire to be strung tightly around the walls of the tank and then coated with shotcrete, a sprayable concrete.

English said Tuesday he wants the type of wire called for to be changed to a higher grade, one which won't rust, like stainless steel.

"Then if there is cracking, we won't have to worry about rust," he said.

Jim Bowser, Chester's liaison to the authority, told English that is not what the American Water Works Association calls for in the building of this AWWA-certified tank design.

"Our job is to recommend a design of tank, not redesign that tank," Bowser said.

English said he thought the process should be left open for several weeks while he looked into the matter of cost, but that idea was put to rest with a vote on the motion for Chester to bid the project.

Frustrated, when asked for his vote, English said, "Well, it's already approved, so yes."

The rest of the board also voted for the tank to be bid.