The Centre Region Planning Commission last night decided to challenge the U.S. Bureau of the Census.

Regional Planner Bob Crum said the 1990 Census count underestimated the region's population by 1,000 people.

He said the count was short because census takers forgot to include four University dorms. Hastings, Stone, Stuart and Snyder Halls, located in College Township, were left out, he said.

The census takers probably thought the dorms were in State College Borough, but the dorms were not included in the borough's census either, he said.

In other business, a consultant told the commission that a study of wastewater from the University Area Joint Authority will now study the effects of the wastewater on groundwater supplies.

Mark Ralston, a hydro-geology consultant for the commission, said the study is going according to schedule. The $56,000 one-year study measures acidity, temperature and stream flow of water to determine the effects of sewage currently dumped into Spring Creek.

In addition to factors affecting aquatic life in the stream, Ralston will study how much water from Spring Creek leaks into ground water supplies from stream beds.

Spring Creek may not be able to receive the five million gallons of wastewater per day the UAJA predicts it will generate this year, Ralston said.

The study will determine the maximum amount of wastewater Spring Creek can accept as well as whether Buffalo Run can accept any wastewater, Ralston said. Buffalo Run currently does not receive any wastewater.

The UAJA will release five million gallons of waste water per day into one or both of the streams when it begins receiving sewage from the downtown area sometime this year, he said.

The CRPC last night also elected University representative Gary Shultz as chairman and College Township member Joe Miller as vice chairman of CRPC.