PENNVEST's board of directors in Harrisburg, Pa., approved nearly $57.9 million in low-interest loans and almost $3.7 million in grants to fund 11 drinking water and wastewater projects in 11 counties across the commonwealth.
The grants were targeted at four prohibitively expensive projects to bring them within the financial reach of their customers. The funding ranges from $270,300 to eliminate the use of contaminated drinking water wells in a Monroe County community, to $25 million to expand the capacity of a wastewater treatment plant in Montgomery County that will allow for business expansion and the creation of more than 1,000 new jobs.
The funding for the projects brings PENNVEST's total funding for community water, sewer and storm water projects to more than $3.9 billion since the program's inception.
Project details follow:
Drinking Water
Allegheny County
- City of Duquesne: $2.6 million loan to replace more than two miles of drinking water distribution lines in various areas of the city where existing lines, some 100 years old, are prone to frequent breaks and leaks. In addition, the project will serve a Keystone Opportunity Zone, a brownfield site and an Enterprise Zone, leading to the creation of 63 new jobs and the retention of more than 100 jobs that would otherwise be lost to the city.
Monroe County
- Robinwood Village: $270,300 loan to reconfigure piping to existing drinking water that will allow residents to stop using five wells that are contaminated by E. Coli and other bacteria.
Wastewater
Allegheny County
- Crafton Borough: $1.1 million loan to repair various sections of the borough's collection system that is subject to being overloaded during wet weather, which results in the discharge of untreated sewage into Chartier's Creek.
Armstrong County
- Kittanning Borough Municipal Authority: $1.2 million loan and $772,548 grant to separate that portion of the borough's wastewater collection system that is combined with its storm water system, thereby eliminating the discharge of inadequately treated sewage into nearby streams.
Beaver County
- Elwood City Borough: $19 million loan to construct a new wastewater treatment plant, a pump station and almost a mile of force main to eliminate raw sewage overflows into Connoquenessing Creek that occur during wet weather. Elk County
- Jay Township Authority: $2.6 million loan and $1.5 million grant to construct more than nine miles of sewage collection lines and force mains, as well as four pump stations and other facilities to eliminate the use of malfunctioning on-lot septic systems and wild-cat sewers that discharge inadequately treated sewage into publicly accessible areas.
Erie County
- North East Township Water and Sewer Authority: $560,000 loan to design a wastewater collection system for the township where there are a significant number of malfunctioning on-lot septic systems. The wastewater will be transported to the treatment plant in North East Borough.
Lackawanna County
- Dempsey Uniform and Linen Supply, Inc.: $661,000 loan to construct a 120,000 gallon wastewater pre-treatment facility at the company's new plant location, allowing for expansion of operations and a $14 million investment of company funds.
Mifflin County
- Newton-Wayne Joint Municipal Authority: $402,555 loan and $255,445 grant to design a sewage collection system to serve the Borough of Newton-Hamilton and a portion of Wayne Township, where almost half of the on-lot septic systems are malfunctioning and discharging raw sewage into local streams and groundwater.
Montgomery County
- Lower Perkiomen Valley Regional Sewer Authority: $25 million loan to expand the Oakes wastewater treatment plant by almost 50 percent, providing the wastewater treatment capacity needed to retain 65 existing jobs and create more than 1,000 new jobs by various business expansions in the area.
Northampton County
- Portland Borough: $4.3 million loan and $1.1 million grant to construct a new wastewater treatment plant, a pump station, two miles of collection lines and force mains as well as other facilities needed to eliminate the use of malfunctioning on-lot septic systems that are contaminating local groundwater and nearby streams.
Source: PENNVEST
