Greg Vanderveen of Sanbern Avenue remembers the day last August when he sat on the front steps of his Mercer home in the rain and prayed the storm water runoff wouldn't come near his house.

"I didn't know what else to do," he said, adding that storm water never did get into his home, but continues to be a problem in the area of the borough where he lives, just off state Route 258, as well as that same state route in the area of Mercer Elementary School.

Problems with water in that area came to a head last summer because of the heavy rainfall, but there have been problems since at least 1995, according to Vanderveen.

In a nutshell: When water from rain overflows the ditches on both sides of state Route 258, it floods across the road and down onto Sanbern Drive and adjoining areas, he explained.

Deciding who's responsible -- PennDOT because of the state road or the borough because of the infrastructure -- has also continued to be a problem, according to Vanderveen.

Recently, Mercer council decided to look into passing a stormwater-management ordinance to alleviate future problems with runoff.

Having such an ordinance may make it easier for council to work with PennDOT to alleviate the existing problem in the Route 258 area, said Councilman John Zohoranacky.

"Right now, council feels it's worth pursuing. We're just a little overwhelmed by the volume of the (sample) stormwater ordinance we received from Hermitage," he said of the 31-page document. Council asked to look at Hermitage's ordinance because few western Pennsylvania municipalities have one.

A special citizen committee was created several months ago to focus on the borough's stormwater problems. It draws about a dozen residents, including many of Vanderveen's neighbors.

"Anytime you can get at least a dozen people to show up at a meeting that they are not required to go to is very, very good. It shows a lot of people care and are putting a lot of time and effort into it," said Zohoranacky.

According to the councilman, the purpose of such an ordinance is to control future runoff problems; it would not require council or residents to resolve existing problems.

"Anytime there's new construction, they would have to have their stormwater-management plans approved before they can even get a building permit," said Zohoranacky. "For example, if the school wanted to expand its parking lots which are really bad for creating water runoff, they would have to adhere to it."

Zohoranacky also said having an ordinance in place will also help the borough qualify for state grants to get help fixing existing problems.

"This all came out of an effort to deal with a problem on state Route 258 going toward Clark. The problem is (when it rains) there is water runoff coming in from Coolspring Township and the borough. It's a state road but it's in the borough. By having this ordinance in place, it will show that it could be a multi-municipality cooperation which could aid us in getting grants," he said. "I think the ordinance will make PennDOT more willing to cooperate with us in getting things done since they will be helping us adhere to state standards."

Zohoranacky blamed that neighborhood's problem on 40 years of construction which has removed the natural ponds and wetlands that used to take the runoff and keep it or slow down its run onto people's properties.

Though it doesn't help Vanderveen now and he wishes it could have occurred sooner, he said he's just glad finally to see some attention brought to the problem and have council members Zohoranacky and Sue Carter-Barner, as well as a couple PennDOT officials attend committee meetings.

"This is probably the most significant cooperation that I have seen attempted between the borough and PennDOT in the time I've been involved in this," he said. "It really is a dangerous situation. There's a safety issue. It floods right in a bend. It's just unsettling."