The Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PENNVEST) has released $306.4 million to bolster wastewater and clean drinking water infrastructure. The funding will support efforts to replace lead service lines, build and upgrade water treatment facilities, remove pollutants and build critical water infrastructure.
The state investment will be distributed across 23 counties, funding 29 projects in total. A selection of the projects receiving financial support include:
Aqua Pennsylvania, Inc. in Bucks County will receive the highest amount – a combined total of $60.8 million in grants and loans – to remove and treat per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at the Neshaminy water treatment plant. The county will build a PFAS treatment structure containing 12 trains in lead-lag configuration of granular-activated carbon (GAC) filter vessels next to each other.
Additional work will consist of building a 2-million-gallon clearwell, an intermediate pumping station and finished water distribution pump building and relocating the post-filter chlorine injection point at the water treatment plant. To make room for all new construction, the county will demolish a decommissioned 7-million-gallon sedimentation basin.
The Delaware County Regional Water Quality Control Authority will benefit from a $34 million loan to upgrade the disinfection system at its wastewater treatment plant. A major project component revolves around the transition to an ultraviolet (UV) light-based disinfection system, replacing the current chloring gas-based alternative. The authority will retrofit two chlorine contact tanks to accommodate the new UV system.
The project calls for building a structure to house sodium hypochlorite storage tanks, feed and transfer pumps and associated controls. The authority will build a second building to contain UV channels, electrical equipment and control systems associated with the UV facility. Finally, the project will modify the piping in five buildings to accommodate chemical feed piping.
The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority will spend $33.5 million to replace lead service lines in 13 neighborhoods. The project estimates that it will impact roughly 3,274 homes, replacing a total of 828 public and 884 private lead service lines.
The Pennsylvania American Water Company in Cumberland County will receive $30.8 million in grants and loans to build a PFAS treatment building at the Silver Spring water treatment plant. The project will install 12 GAC vessels, paired across six parallel trains. Each train will have one lead and one lag vessel. Additional work will include various plant upgrades, including the installation of a post-filtration transfer wet well and pumps, upgraded backwash supply pumps and improvements to the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system.
The same company will receive another $25 million loan for similar work in Susquehanna County. The project calls for building a water treatment plant that will include a raw water impoundment, a treatment building, a clearwell building, two wastewater lagoons and a recycle pump station.
In addition to the new facility, the project will build a 700-square-foot raw water pump station on the same site that will be connected to the existing intake line. Plans include installing a 1.2-mile raw water transmission main leading from the pump station to the new treatment plant. The company will preserve the structure at the existing plant for storage and demolish the rest of the tanks and building.
Photo by Orhan Akbaba from Pexels
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