CLARION, Pa. (EYT) – Pennsylvania American Water Company (PAWC) officials on July 29 hosted federal, state, and local officials and other dignitaries to mark the completion of major improvements to the Clarion Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The company purchased the facility — which serves Clarion Borough, Clarion Township, and Monroe Township — in 2008, and has been working since 2013 to upgrade the treatment plant to help prevent sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) which had been a constant source of trouble in the past.
The improvements include construction of two new tanks to hold sewage during heavy rainfall until it can be processed. Each tank has a capacity of 1.9 million gallons.
(Photo above: Jon Natale of PAWC tells the crowd of 50-plus people, including many local leaders, how the plant’s massive new tanks function to control SSOs. Photo on right: Natale explains other plant operations. Photo on bottom: PAWC senior director of water quality Paul Zielinski (left) presents Clarion drinking water plant operator Rob Larson and with the president’s award for water quality. The award was earned based on reporting compiled by Mary Roland (right).
The company also extended six miles of pipeline to allow sewer service to Clarion-Limestone School District and a number of malfunctioning residential on-lot septic systems along the route, replaced about two miles of sewer lines to increase capacity, and constructed a new lift station near Liberty Street to reduce flows into the system.
“These improvements substantially reduce SSOs, plus Clarion County’s economic development initiatives will benefit. People want to build in areas which have good drinking water and a good sewage system,” said Kathy L. Pape, PAWC president.
Among those gathered for the announcement on July 29 were State Rep. Donna Oberlander (R-63), State Senator Scott Hutchinson (R-21), Clarion County Commissioner Wayne Brosius, Carol Lapinto and Brenda Sanders Dede of Clarion Borough Council, Clarion Borough Police Chief Mark Hall, Elk Township Supervisor Keith Etzel, and Monroe Township Supervisor Robert Lewis.
The company is expanding its local base in other ways; it expects to close in August on the purchase of the Paint-Elk Joint Sewer Authority.
No Huge Rate Hikes
The $24 million project was funded in part of a $19 million low-interest loan from the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority.
Local PAWC customers won’t see huge rate hikes because of the project, Pape said, thanks largely to a 2012 state law which allows utility companies to combine the revenue requirement for water and waste water operations, similar to a “single-tariff” system in which rates are based on capital investments and expenses spread equally among all customers.
“It prevents customers served by PAWC’s Clarion and Paint-Elk system from having to bear the full financial burden for major capital projects. Instead, the cost of these multi-million dollar upgrades is spread across our entire customer base of approximately 667,000 customers throughout the state,” Pape said.
Drinking Water Award
The July 29 event concluded with PAWC announcing Clarion’s drinking water treatment plant has earned the President’s Award from the Partnership For Safe Water, the highest possible level of performance in the four-phase program which recognizes stringent individual filter performance goals for water cloudiness, also known as turbidity.
“Reaching this elite status is a significant achievement in our ongoing efforts to not only meet stringent performance goals but also to improve the quality of our water,” said Paul Zielinski, senior director of water quality for PAWC.
