The state Department of Environmental Protection is correct in getting tough with Prospect Borough over sanitary sewer system problems that pose a threat to Lake Arthur.

Prospect should view the Butler Area Sewer Authority's problems with the DEP as an incentive for the borough to stay in full compliance with all aspects of a DEP-Prospect consent order involving needed corrective measures. If the borough fails to comply, there could be significant adverse consequences, as BASA learned when it failed to comply with such an order several years ago.

BASA still is feeling the impact of that non-compliance.

Amid Prospect's need to correct system problems is an important question, however: How did an equalization tank get erected and apparently accepted as completed when the tank was not built to stand-ards required in a permit?

That smacks of shoddy supervision and raises the question of whether anything else that has been done in or for the borough has issues that have been overlooked or ignored.

Borough residents would be correct in asking how that substandard tank evolved.

The purpose of the equalization tank was to cut down the peak flows of sewage to the sewage treatment plant that serves the borough. But it hasn't done the job that it was supposed to do.

A big focus of concern revolves around the Wilson Pump Station, which moves sewage along the borough's line that leads to Moraine State Park's treatment plant.

Under an agreement, the park treats the borough's sewage.

While overflows at the Wilson station aren't an everyday occurrence — they generally occur in late winter when snow is melting — they nonetheless pose a hazard to Lake Arthur at the park.

"The sewage issues have been ongoing for a long time and the borough has taken some steps to correct them, but their measures have not corrected the situation," said Freda Tarbell of the DEP.

"You have untreated sewage that now has the potential to come in contact with humans, so this is a public health issue as well as being an environmental issue, and that is within the borough," Tarbell added.

Because of BASA's problems with the DEP, that authority has been hit with limits on new sewer connections. Now limits also have been slapped on Prospect, which borough Mayor Jim Butler acknowledged as having the effect of halting growth.

While that action is stern — and perhaps excessive, since Prospect's growth is not the most vibrant in the county — it nevertheless reinforces the seriousness with which the DEP regards the need for corrective action.

Prospect officials, in their community's best interests, shouldn't relax their determination to meet what the DEP deems necessary. And, they should keep in mind that the DEP is serious about what it is demanding.

The borough has just over 17 months to eliminate all overflows in the system and has been hit with a $2,500 fine from the outset for the problems that have been allowed to exist. Meanwhile, the borough faces a $1,000 fine for each month that an overflow occurs from now until the deadline for compliance on Dec. 31, 2009.

A $10,000 fine awaits the borough if a sewage overflow occurs after the compliance deadline. The last overflow occurred in March.

Moraine State Park and Lake Arthur are beautiful, valuable assets to this county. They must not be damaged by problems that are correctable.

Obviously, Prospect officials in the past were remiss in acknowledging the importance of protecting the lake and park. Now they have no choice.

The DEP should be willing to work closely with borough officials to help ensure that the corrective measures go smoothly. However, relaxing the corrective mandate would be wrong.