HARRISBURG, PA, March 23, 2005 (PRNewswire) -- PENNVEST's Board of Directors today approved $90.1 million in low-interest loans and $9.5 million in grants to fund 33 drinking water, wastewater and storm water projects in 23 counties across the state. The grants were targeted for 10 prohibitively expensive projects to bring them within the financial reach of their customers.
The funding ranges from $24,949,610 to construct a regional wastewater collection and treatment system to serve five municipalities in Butler County where on-lot septic systems are malfunctioning and the existing treatment plant is overloaded to $188,000 to design a wastewater interconnect and distribution system to serve a small community in Clarion County where drinking water wells are contaminated with coliform bacteria.
The funding for today's projects brings PENNVEST's total funding for community water, sewer and storm water projects to more than $3.7 billion since the program's inception. Project details follow:
DRINKING WATER
Blair County
Altoona City Authority: $1.5 million loan to over a mile of water transmission mains to provide service to the proposed Logan Town Centre Mall, which will contain almost 800,000 square feet of commercial space and create an estimated 4,000 new jobs in the area.
Bucks County
Sellersville Borough: $1,453,000 loan to upgrade the existing water filtration plant, which does not meet current Department of Environmental Protection standards for filtration and turbidity. This project will significantly improve the quality of filtration at the plant and will reduce the possibility of contaminated drinking water supplies.
Carbon County
Jim Thorpe Borough: $5,034,400 loan to replace over three miles of old, deteriorated water mains that are leaking over half of the water that they carry, as well as a 100,000-gallon storage tank.
Clarion County
Paint Township Municipal Water Authority: $188,000 loan to design an interconnection with the Pennsylvania American Water Company, as well as fire hydrants and service connections to 15 homes, many of whose drinking water wells are susceptible to being contaminated with coliform bacteria.
Columbia County
Millville Borough Municipal Authority: $1,213,311 loan and $321,489 grant to construct and design over a mile of water mains and the replacement of 10 fire hydrants to eliminate substantial leaks in the system that pose a potential public health threat.
Millville Borough Municipal Authority: $570,900 loan to design and pilot test a 150,000-gallons-per-day membrane treatment plant that will eliminate the use of unfiltered water sources and improve water pressure in the distribution system.
Erie County
Erie City Water Authority: $1,634,000 loan to construct improvements to the Sigsbee Pumping Station, which is the main pumping station for this system that serves over 47,000 households in eight municipalities.
McKean Township Water Authority: $830,375 loan and $22,185 grant to upgrade a pump station and over two miles of water mains and service lines to 69 households that are dependent on wells that have insufficient yields, which results in residences running out of water in the summers, forcing them to truck in bottled water.
Huntingdon County
Warrior's Mark General Authority: $245,000 loan to replace an antiquated water distribution system serving 225 households that currently experience frequent service interruptions and are subject to boil-water notices due to contamination stemming from leaks in the system.
Lackawanna County
Aqua Pennsylvania, Inc.: $1,151,300 loan to construct a new booster station and almost a mile of water mains to eliminate low pressure problems in higher elevations within the system as well as frequent water main breaks.
Lebanon County
West Lebanon Township: $3,542,000 loan to replace virtually the entire water distribution system, including over four miles of mains and distribution lines, the water storage facility and the interconnection with the City of Lebanon water supply system.
Luzerne County
Aqua Pennsylvania, Inc.: $2,311,200 loan to purchase an existing system that is in bankruptcy and unable to provide adequate service to its customers. The project will also involve the construction of system improvements to improve service to customers as well as improve their health by eliminating stagnant water in the system.
Pike County
Aqua Pennsylvania, Inc.: $2,249,960 loan to construct system improvements to serve an area of established homes near Lake Wallenpaupack in Palmyra Township where chronic water outages and low water pressure have led to the filing of numerous complaints with the Public Utilities Commission.
Venango County
Sugarcreek Borough: $2,167,985 loan and $1,257,015 grant to design and construct a new water storage tank, a booster pump station, almost 13 miles of distribution lines and other facilities that will provide service to households whose drinking water wells were found to be contaminated with coliform bacteria, iron and manganese.
WASTEWATER
Beaver County
Ellport Borough Sewer Authority: $3,150,000 loan to upgrade the existing wastewater treatment plant and collection system to eliminate the overloading of the system during wet weather and the discharge of untreated sewage into Connoquenessing Creek.
Bedford County
Chestnut Ridge Area Joint Municipal Authority: $2,267,400 loan to construct almost eight miles of sanitary sewer lines to serve areas in three communities where malfunctioning on-lot septic systems are discharging raw and inadequately treated sewage into groundwater and local drinking water supplies.
Hopewell Township: $2,892,620 loan to construct two sewage treatment plants and over 23 miles of sewage collection lines to serve households in both Hopewell and West Providence Townships, where on-lot septic systems are malfunctioning and discharging inadequately treated waste into local drinking water wells as well as Yellow Creek, which is a high-quality fishery.
Berks County
Richmond Township: $3,156,762 loan and $673,238 grant to construct over five miles of sewage collection lines, two pump stations and the purchase of treatment capacity at an existing wastewater treatment plant in order to eliminate the contamination of local drinking water wells, as well as other groundwater and surface water sources, with fecal coliform bacteria.
Butler County
Saxonburg Area Authority: $24,949,610 loan to construct a regional sewage collection and treatment system to serve five municipalities. The project includes almost 60 miles of sewage collection lines, five pump stations and a new wastewater treatment plant to eliminate the use of malfunctioning on-lot septic systems and the Authority's existing treatment plant, which is overloaded.
Fayette County
Brownsville Municipal Authority: $3,560,000 loan to replace over two miles of collection sewers and force mains, as well as reconstruct five pump stations and retrofit the existing treatment plant into a storage facility, to eliminate the wet weather bypassing of inadequately treated waste into Dunlap Creek and the Monongahela River.
Greene County
Dry Tavern Sewer Authority: $1,868,986 loan and $1,131,014 grant to more than double the capacity of the existing sewage treatment plant and replace almost five miles of sewage collection lines to eliminate the contamination of Pumpkin Run by the discharge of inadequately treated wastewater during wet weather.
Huntingdon County
Hopewell Township: $375,394 loan and $514,481 grant to construct over a mile of sanitary sewers and a pump station to transport waste for treatment at a regional treatment facility, thereby eliminating the use of malfunctioning on-lot septic systems that are discharging raw and inadequately treated waste into groundwater, including local drinking water wells, as well as Shoups Run, which discharges into the Raystown Branch of the Juniata River.
Jefferson County
Reynoldsville Sewage Authority: $2.2 million loan to initiate activities that will control combined sewer overflow problems in the existing system and bring it into compliance with its National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit.
Rose Township: $1,768,660 loan and $1,060,588 grant to construct almost six miles of collection lines, two pump stations and other facilities to eliminate the use of malfunctioning on-lot septic systems.
Lebanon County
Fredericksburg Sewer & Water Authority: $2,918,558 loan and $288,628 grant to construct a new sewage treatment plant, a pump station and over six miles of collection lines to eliminate the use of malfunctioning on-lot septic systems in two municipalities that are discharging raw and inadequately treated sewage into groundwater sources, as well as Lake Strause, Lake Weiss and Monroe Creek.
Luzerne County
Plymouth Township: $331,000 loan to design a sewage collection system that will serve an area of the Township where on-lot septic systems are discharging waste into the Susquehanna River.
Mercer County
Reynolds Disposal Company: $1.6 million loan to rehabilitate an existing wastewater treatment plant that provides service to almost 1,000 households in three municipalities. The project will eliminate any potential health hazards associated with the disintegration of wastewater treatment components and the discharge of inadequately treated sewage.
Schuylkill County
New Ringgold Borough: $1,154,086 loan and $1,484,114 grant to install almost two miles of sewage collection lines to serve more than 100 homes whose on-lot septic systems are malfunctioning and contaminating local drinking water wells with coliform bacteria.
West Mahanoy Township: $7.5 million loan to construct about 11 miles of sewage collection lines to serve over 500 homes whose on-lot septic systems are malfunctioning and discharging untreated sewage into Shenandoah Creek.
Venango County
Cranberry-Venango County General Authority: $1,393,067 loan to design and construct two miles of sewage collection lines and other facilities to eliminate the discharge of untreated sewage from malfunctioning on-lot septic systems.
Westmoreland County
Sutersville-Sewickley Municipal Sewage Authority: $4,200,533 loan and $2,746,452 grant to construct almost 11 miles of sanitary sewers, a new sewage treatment plant and three pump stations to serve almost 500 residences whose wildcat sewers are discharging raw waste into Sewickley Creek and the Youghiogheny River.
STORMWATER
Berks County
Colebrookdale Township: $310,000 loan to construct a storm sewer system to eliminate hazardous road conditions on state roadways due to ponding and flooding.
Union County
Lewisburg Area Recreational Authority: $434,691 loan to construct a storm sewer system to eliminate flooding of a park as well as the flooding of basements in several homes in the area.
PENNVEST is the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (www.pennvest.state.pa.us).
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