Prospect Mayor Jim Butler was correct Monday evening when he urged the borough council to take action rather than fight over the sewage issues facing the community.

The borough must comply with a state Department of Environmental Protection consent order that requires, among other things, correction of a longtime sewage-overflow problem at the Wilson Pump Station.

While the council approved a couple of actions Monday that will provide a measure of help to one family badly affected by the sewage system problems, those actions did not resolve the troubling questions that persist regarding some of the borough's neglectful past performance regarding this important environmental issue.

No one should have to experience occurrences like Todd and Becky Wilson and their children have had to endure as a result of the Prospect system problems. Anyone living with those kinds of conditions should be relentless in terms of demanding corrective action — from local-level authorities and then, if necessary, from officials in higher levels of government.

For whatever reason, the Wilsons until now haven't made as much "noise" about the issue as they should have made and, thus, have had to deal with the consequences.

Due to the overflows in question, their water well has been contaminated on more than one occasion and they have had instances when fecal matter, toilet paper and dirty female hygiene products have been strewn throughout their property.

Nick Vaccarello, council president, has experienced similar overflow results on his own property, which is next to the Wilsons'.

At Monday's meeting, Vaccarello accused past councils of ignoring the problem, prompting the mayor's recommendation for action rather than fighting.

That was good advice, but in cases of long-term inaction, silence isn't the best tactic.

Although the council's decision to have a deeper well dug for the Wilsons and provide the family bottled drinking water until the sewage problems are fixed was a reasonable immediate gesture, those actions won't correct what is causing the pumping station overflow problems.

A big contributing factor has been an equalization tank that was to cut down the peak flows of sewage, but wasn't built to the standards required in a permit.

Under the consent agreement, the borough is required to eliminate all overflows in the system by Dec. 31, 2009, and faces stiff fines if overflows continue beyond that date.

Too bad the threat of fines wasn't hanging over Prospect's head long before now.