The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded a grant of $192,400 to the Berwick Area Joint Sewer Authority in Columbia County, Pa., in order to upgrade its sewage system.
The upgrades are necessary to fix problems with sewage overflows in the Susquehanna River during heavy rains. The overflows degrade water quality in local lakes and can create a health hazard.
The funding will go towards installing a new sanitary sewage line that will carry wastewater from Berwick Industrial Development Association complex to a wastewater treatment plant. Currently, the wastewater is discharged into the same sewers as the storm water. When it rains, the sewage line cannot handle the heavy flow, thus causing sewage overflows.
According to the News Blaze, the town has been under a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection order that the storm water system be disconnected from the wastewater system.
The grant will pay for just over half of the project’s eligible costs. Additional funding will come from the state.
Source: EPA/ News Blaze
