Lower Burrell officials are planning to borrow $15.8 million to stop untreated sewage from spilling into a creek and onto properties during heavy rains.
The project will replace the sewage pump station at the foot of Edgecliff Road and the 50-year-old line through which it pumps sewage to the treatment plant in New Kensington.
On April 29 council will meet to have a third reading of the ordinance that will move the project forward by approving $15.8 million in loans from PennVEST, the state financing agency for sewage and water projects.
The pump station has been a chronic problem, failing off and on over the years, resulting in overflows and sewage discharges into the surrounding area, according to city Solicitor Steve Yakopec. City officials have long recognized that it would have to be dealt with sooner or later, said Greg Primm, Lower Burrell city manager.
“I was on the WeDIG board when (former) Mayor (Don) Kinosz was talking about this project,” said Primm, who was Allegheny Township’s manager at the time. “So, that had to be at least 15 years ago.”
Primm said previous administrations didn’t ignore the problem. But, he said, the cost is intimidating and he believes the delay was due to “fear of the debt and thinking they could get grant money that they were never able to get.”
“I think they did try,” Primm said, adding that acquiring federal grants proved difficult because the city’s median income exceeded eligibility limits.
The storm that pummeled the area March 13 forced the issue when the rainfall increased the pressure on the force main next to the pump station. The pressure caused it to break up through the pavement and spew raw sewage into a ditch that carried it into Chartiers Run and even overflowed onto nearby properties.
“It was dumping into the creek about 2,000 feet above the river,” city engineer Matt Pitsch said.
Yakopec said that amounts to a violation of the federal Clean Stream Act and the consent order the city has through its partnership with other communities that channel sewage to the New Kensington plant for treatment.
Pitsch said the pump station is designed to pump sewage through a force main a distance of about 1 mile on a 400-foot vertical angle along Edgecliff Road. It crosses Leechburg Road at the top and extends to Rodgers Drive, located next to Glen’s Custard. From there the main moves the sewage flow by gravity down over the hill and along the Route 56 bypass to the treatment plant in New Kensington’s Parnassus section.
Pitsch and Primm said the project involves basically three components: installing a bigger pump with more capacity, a 1 million-gallon above-ground sewage holding tank and installation of 1 mile of new pipe.
“This station will allow it to pump what is needed, but also hold back sewage as well,” Pitsch explained.
He said the new configuration will divert sewage, that ordinarily might overrun the pump station during heavy rains, into the holding tank from which it can be pumped out as the flow recedes.
Pitsch said the new system will allow the city to shut down three small pump stations and channel sewage, by gravity flow, from them to the Edgecliff Road station.
Councilman Dave Stoltz said council knew this project was going to have to happen, which is why it approved a sewage rate increase in 2022 and a 5% increase this year.
He said the reasoning was that it was better to start with small increases to start building up a fund for the project rather than hit rate payers with a big increase at one time.
“Both of those increases took this project into consideration,” Primm said.
But he said it also took into account other costs, such as an increase from the Municipal Sanitary Authority of New Kensington, which increased rates to partner communities by about 5% to cover treatment plant operations.
“At this point, we probably have about $1.5 million (accumulated) and we have to start paying the debt service this year,” Primm said.
There are actually two loans, one for $1.9 million directly from PennVEST to cover engineering and design costs and another for $13.9 million, which is also through PennVEST but underwritten by the federal government for the bulk of the project, Pitsch said. They will be paid back over 20 years.
Primm said the interest rate on the overall loan package is 1% for the first five years and then it increases to 1.45 % for the final 15 years. In addition, Primm said, the city managed to secure a $500,000 grant to help pay for the force main installation.
He said the dollar amount of the debt service won’t be calculated until the closing of the loans.
“If everything goes smoothly, we should be awarding the bids at the end of the month and, in about another month, we should be digging,” Stoltz said.