Jul 1, 2016 2 min read

WAYNESBURG – Waynesburg Borough received a $20,000 state grant to help pay engineering costs for its sewage treatment system improvement project.

The grant from the Commonwealth Financing Authority was announced Friday by state Rep. Pam Snyder, D- Jefferson.

The borough is preparing a plan to address a state Department of Environmental Protection mandate to reduce overflows at the treatment plant that occur at times of heavy rain. The overflows partly result from the fact that, when the system was built, storm water and sanitary sewers were combined.

The borough has been working to develop a plan to meet the DEP requirement for the last few years. Last year, it received an extension on the time it has to submit its plan to DEP. The plan must be completed by February.

The plan calls for separating the sanitary sewer and storm sewer in areas where it is feasible and reducing the amount of groundwater infiltration entering the system through faulty sewer lines.

The borough also is discussing updating its sewage treatment plant and is now considering three alternates. They include rehabilitating the existing plant, replacing it with a new plant or abandoning the plant and having borough sewage treated by the Franklin Township Sewage Authority’s plant.

“I salute the borough for pursuing the financing and keeping on top of the need to upgrade key infrastructure,” Snyder said in announcing the grant.

The sewage facilities grant was approved by the Commonwealth Financing Authority, an independent state agency that evaluates and administers funding for projects that support conservation projects, environmental protection measures and Act 537 engineering studies. Funding for the projects is derived from Act 13 Marcellus Shale impact fees.