Brackenridge got a major boost from the state this week to upgrade its water filtration plant and rectify previous concerns from the Department of Environmental Protection about aging mechanisms.
The borough landed more than $13 million — a $5.7 million grant and a $7.4 million loan — through the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PENNVEST).
PENNVEST is a financing authority that provides help to address sewer, stormwater and drinking water projects.
“This is a major step toward the improvement of our water system,” borough Manager Chad Edwards said. “We’re very pleased with the approval.”
Work at the water treatment plant, situated off Freeport Road on Reservoir Drive, will improve the way contaminants are removed.
The project is part of a consent order to safeguard the water supply and address concerns about turbidity, or cloudiness, after a previous DEP inspection showed problems.
The DEP said at that time that drinking the borough’s water was safe.
Borough Engineer Gordon Taylor said it boiled down to an operational issue because of the aging plant’s number of lines. Not all of them have a monitor.
Work will modernize operations. Construction will include site piping and on-site distribution storage tanks to provide automatic shutdown capabilities.
The project is a second attempt to address the problems. In May 2025, Brackenridge received $6 million in funding from PENNVEST for work on the water plant. Construction was set to start last fall, but costs grew between the time the scope of the project was finalized and bids came in, Mayor Lindsay Fraser said.
The bids exceeded the budget and had to be rejected, she said.
Brackenridge went back to PENNVEST to obtain the $13 million needed for the project.
Fraser said the borough is enrolled in a community financial health assessment program through the Local Government Academy and the state Department of Community and Economic Development.
“It is to help us modernize our finances and identify additional revenue streams that will allow us to do capital projects like this without solely relying on tax revenue,” Fraser said.
State Sen. Lindsey Williams, D-North Hills, and state Rep. Mandy Steele, D-Fox Chapel, touted the funding as meaningful for a town the size of Brackenridge.
“Pennsylvanians have the constitutional right to pure water and that includes access to clean, safe drinking water,” Williams said. “I’m especially glad to see meaningful state investment in our smaller, local water systems.”
Steele said the funding will “go a long way toward reinvigorating water systems in the borough, making sure that the community has access to clean water and sanitary sewage for decades to come.”
Edwards said he expects the project to be rebid this summer.