Bethlehem residents won't mind paying higher water bills for poor quality drinking water. The builders of the PennEast natural gas pipeline are counting on that.

PennEast plans to carve through the 22,000 acres of forest lands that surround the city's two reservoirs. These are the forest lands that Bethlehem has acquired over the decades to provide the best drinking water possible.

PennEast wants to dig through the forests -- even directly into Wild Creek, which flows to the Wild Creek Reservoir. PennEast says it would backfill the trenches and sow grass. However, the hilly terrain ensures that soil erosion will persist.

The pipeline would carve a huge open corridor through the forests. Deer thrive on the edges between forests and open space. More deer, more feces. Fecal contamination caused an outbreak of cryptosporidium in the drinking water in Milwaukee in 1993, sickening 400,000 people and killing 93.

With the pipeline, the 130,000 people who rely on Bethlehem's exceptional water could find the taste tainted by silt and additional chlorine and other chemicals. Have you ever drunk from Philadelphia's faucets?

Higher filtration and treatment costs will force an increase in city water bills. PennEast will profit and Bethlehem residents will pay.

City Council, Mayor Donchez and the Bethlehem Authority should be commended for initiating the first step in keeping PennEast away from our reservoirs. Write your legislators to urge them to act as well.

Frank Baran

Bethlehem