NOTICES

PENNSYLVANIA INFRASTRUCTURE
INVESTMENT AUTHORITY

DEPARTMENT OF
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Approval of Environmental Assessments for PENNVEST Funding Consideration

[54 Pa.B. 5958]
[Saturday, September 14, 2024]

 Scope: Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Projects for consideration at the October 16, 2024, meeting of the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PENNVEST) Board.

 Description: PENNVEST, which administers the Commonwealth's Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF), is intended to be the funding source for the following projects. The Department of Environmental Protection's (Department) review of these projects, and the information received in the Environmental Report for these projects, has not identified any significant, adverse environmental impact resulting from any of the proposed projects. The Department hereby approves the Environmental Assessment for each project. If no significant comments are received during this comment period, the Environmental Assessments will be considered approved and funding for the project will be considered by PENNVEST.

 To be considered, the Department must receive comments on this approval on or by Monday, October 14, 2024. Comments, including comments submitted by e-mail, must include the commentator's name and address. Commentators are encouraged to submit comments using the Department's online eComment tool at www.ahs.dep.pa.gov/eComment. Written comments can also be submitted by e-mail to ecomment@pa.gov or by mail to the Policy Office, Department of Environmental Protection, Rachel Carson State Office Building, P.O. Box 2063, Harrisburg, PA 17105-2063. Use ''PENNVEST SRF-Environmental Assessment'' as the subject line in written communication.

 Comments received during the comment period, along with the Department's comment and response document, will be available on the Department's web site at www.dep.pa.gov/Business/Water/CleanWater/Infrastructure Finance/Pages/EnvironmentalReview.aspx.

 Upon approval, the full list of approved projects and their costs can be found in a press release on PENNVEST's web site at www.pennvest.pa.gov.

 For more information about the approval of the following Environmental Assessments or the CWSRF and DWSRF Programs contact Dharmendra Kumar, Bureau of Clean Water, Department of Environmental Protection, P.O. Box 8774, Harrisburg, PA 17105-8774, (717) 772-3377, dkumar@ pa.gov, or visit the Department's web site at www.dep.pa. gov/Business/Water/CleanWater/InfrastructureFinance/Pages/default.aspx.

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CWSRF Projects Being Considered:

Applicant:	Clintonville Borough Sewer and Water Authority
County:	Venango
Applicant Address:	109 Franklin Street Clintonville, PA 16372

 Project Description: Clintonville Borough Sewer and Water Authority proposes to construct new headworks with a dual auger debris removal system, 100,000 gallons per day dual tank continuous flow sequential batch reactor treatment plant, a combined blower, sludge dewatering, wet lab, an ultraviolet effluent treatment building and approximately 1,100 linear feet of new treated effluent discharge gravity system. The new plant will also incorporate a new electrical service and power distribution center, an emergency generator capable of powering the entire plant, a new security fence around the plant and a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system. This project will replace or rehabilitate two pump stations (PS) and install security fencing and an emergency generator at each PS. Upon completion and startup of the new sewage treatment plant, the existing plant will be demolished and a rain garden trench will be installed for post-construction stormwater management.

 Problem Description: The Clintonville Borough Sewer and Water Authority is currently under a consent order and agreement (COA) from the Department due to the existing sewage treatment plant experiencing hydraulic and organic loading exceedances and effluent quality issues. The original COA was executed on September 22, 2015, and then revised on September 28, 2021. The revised COA requires that the Clintonville Borough Sewer and Water Authority construct and place in service a new sewage treatment plant by the end of September 2025 that will replace the more than 50-year-old existing plant.

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Applicant:	Lower Burrell Municipal Authority
County:	Westmoreland
Applicant Address:	2800 Bethel Street Lower Burrell, PA 15068

 Project Description: The Lower Burrell Municipal Authority operates the sanitary sewer system that serves residents within the boundaries of the City of Lower Burrell. The proposed project includes replacing Chartiers PS in its entirety with a new closed-roof PS. In addition, the scope includes constructing a 1 million-gallon aboveground wastewater equalization tank with blowers and rehabilitating the associated force main. The equalization tank will be located at the PS site. It will serve as a buffer for storm events and will also provide emergency wastewater storage capacity during high flow events. The blowers will be installed to prevent septic conditions. The project also proposes decommissioning and demolishing the Hillcrest, Indiana and Widmer PSs and redirecting flows to the Chartiers PS. Final decommissioning of these PSs will occur after work at the upgraded Chartiers PS is complete.

 Problem Description: In 2009, the Lower Burrell Municipal Authority along with the City of Lower Burrell, Municipal Sanitary Authority of New Kensington, City of New Kensington, City of Arnold, Borough of Plum and the Plum Borough Municipal Authority entered into an administrative order of consent to develop a long-term control plan (LTCP) for their sewer system. The LTCP proposed maximizing flow at the Municipal Sanitary Authority of New Kensington regional wastewater treatment plant (WWTF), addressing excessive infiltration and inflow, improving the collection system by consolidating combined sewer overflow structures, implementing green infrastructure and upgrading trunk, interceptor lines and pumping stations. The LTCP was approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Department on December 2, 2016. PSs, including Chartiers, Hillcrest, Indian and Widemer, along with their associated force mains, are deteriorated due to corrosion. They are experiencing frequent mechanical failures and are at the end of their useful lives. The age of the existing equipment makes it difficult to procure replacement parts.

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Applicant:	Municipal Authority of Allegheny Township
County:	Westmoreland
Applicant Address:	136 Community Building Road Leechburg, PA 15656

 Project Description: The Municipal Authority of Allegheny Township owns, operates and maintains seven PSs in its collection system. The Municipal Authority of Allegheny Township proposes to upgrade the Chartiers # 1 PS located on Greenwood Road and the Markle # 2 PS located on Markle Road in New Kensington City and will replace the generator at the Westberry PS. They are within the collection and conveyance system that serves residents of Allegheny Township, Westmoreland County. The proposed improvements at the Chartiers # 1 and Markel # 2 PSs include replacing the existing pumps with new submersible pumps, installing new pump controls, replacing the flow meter, installing a new generator, providing electrical improvements and adding a SCADA system. Additional work at the Markle # 2 PS includes constructing a new wet well. The Melwood # 3 PS located on Melwood Road in New Kensington will be decommissioned and eliminated and gravity sewers will be constructed to convey all flow to the Markle # 2 PS for ultimate conveyance to the Kiski Valley Water Pollution Control Authority for treatment. Approximately 617 linear feet of 8-inch polyvinyl chloride gravity sewer will be constructed on LaBelle Vue Road. This will connect three homes to the sanitary sewer system owned by Vandergrift Borough, pending an intermunicipal agreement between the Municipal Authority of Allegheny Township and Vandergrift Borough.

 Problem Description: The Chartiers # 1, Markle # 2 and Melwood # 3 PSs and the generator at the Westberry PS are approaching the end of their useful lives, resulting in increasing financial burden due to operation and maintenance. Homes on LaBelle Vue Road have failing onlot systems. Sewage odors, gray water discharges, pooled and stagnated sewage and wildcat sewers are characteristic of existing onlot system conditions along LaBelle Vue Road. The conditions have been documented by the Department.

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Applicant:	Marshall Township Municipal Sanitary Authority
County:	Allegheny
Applicant Address:	525 Pleasant Hill Road Warrendale, PA 15086

 Project Description: The Marshall Township Municipal Sanitary Authority's sanitary sewer collection system is a tributary system which discharges its sewage to the Cranberry Township-Brush Creek water pollution control facility for treatment. This is a capital contribution to the Township of Cranberry—Brush Creek Water Pollution Control Facility Solids Processing and Dewatering Upgrades Project that was approved at the July 17, 2024, PENNVEST Board meeting. The existing autothermal thermophilic aerobic digestion (ATAD) system at the Brush Creek WWTF will be replaced with an anaerobic solids handling system. During the replacement of the solids handling process other ancillary portions of the plant will be repaired/replaced as part of the scope of work. The project consists of constructing two new anaerobic digesters with control building and waste gas flare, installing additional waste sludge holding facilities, demolishing the existing ATAD system, installing a new post-digestion sludge storage tank, constructing a new solids processing building with two centrifuges and appurtenances and demolishing two existing belt filter presses and appurtenances. The project also includes other ancillary improvements to the influent PS and primary clarifiers as well as grit handling, existing waste sludge holding and odor control systems.

 Problem Description: The current ATAD system and additional waste sludge holding facilities at the Brush Creek WWTF are neither efficient nor capable of managing future treatment flows. Cranberry Township has invested significant resources studying the most cost-effective method of not only providing adequate capacity, but also providing a solids handling system to meet both regulatory requirements and future growth.

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DWSRF Projects Being Considered:

Applicant:	Hazleton City Authority
County:	Luzerne
Applicant Address:	400 East Arthur Gardner Parkway Hazleton, PA 18201

 Project Description: The proposed project consists of constructing a new 3 million-gallon capacity finished water storage tank at the high point of the existing finished water transmission main on the property already owned by the Hazleton City Authority. The project also includes constructing a valve house, installing controls, instrumentation and SCADA communication as well as installing security fencing.

 Problem Description: The distribution system experiences large fluctuations in pressure and flow due to high water demand.

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Applicant:	Mount Penn Borough Municipal Authority
County:	Berks
Applicant Address:	200 North 25th Street Reading, PA 19606

 Project Description: The Mount Penn Borough Municipal Authority is proposing a new ground-level concrete storage tank with 1 million-gallon capacity similar to the existing Spook Lane tank. The new tank will be located approximately 150 feet southwest of the existing tank. The existing water main will be extended to the new tank site and the existing valve vault will be retained. This project also includes minor valving modifications at the intersection of Friedensburg Road and Spook Lane and new control valves in the Grandview booster PS.

 Problem Description: The Mount Penn Borough Municipal Authority owns a 1 million-gallon finished water storage tank located at Spook Lane in Reading. The Spook Lane tank was constructed in 1957 and is reaching the end of its service life. The Mount Penn Borough Municipal Authority must now choose to continue to repair or replace the tank. The poor condition of the tank means that continued repairs will bring diminishing returns. The Mount Penn Borough Municipal Authority has determined that replacing the tank is the lowest cost, viable alternative for continuing service.

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Applicant:	Saegertown Borough
County:	Crawford
Applicant Address:	603 Erie Street P.O. Box 558 Saegertown, PA 16433

 Project Description: The proposed project involves constructing a new approximately 5,000-square foot filter building to house a manganese greensand filter system and nine 10-feet diameter by 12-feet high pressure vessels containing granular activated carbon for the adsorption and removal of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), arranged in three parallel lead-lag trains with three tanks in each train, approximately 5,000 feet of 16-inch chlorine contact line, approximately 815 feet of 10-inch water line, filter backwash tank and effluent pump and connections to the existing reservoir. The replacement of approximately 1,700 feet of 10-inch asbestos cement water line with 12-inch high-density polyethylene pipe is also proposed.

 Problem Description: The Saegertown Borough water system was one of the communities selected by the Department to participate in a sampling and data collection effort aimed at studying PFAS. In October 2020, PFAS was discovered in the Saegertown Borough's water system in Wells # 6 and # 7 and the underlying groundwater aquifer source. Based on results published by the Department, the combined concentration of two PFAS chemicals—perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid—was determined to be 192 parts per trillion. Wells # 6 and # 7 were taken off-line in 2020 after PFAS was detected in the source water. In April of 2024, water sample results for Wells # 1 and # 2 indicated that concentrations for PFOS were above the Commonwealth's maximum contaminant level. Due to the source and extent of the contamination not being known with any certainty, the treatment strategy needs to provide the flexibility for operational adjustments and include provisions to redirect all of the Saegertown Borough's downtown wells to the new treatment system (Wells # 1—# 3, # 6, # 7 and a proposed Well # 9).

JESSICA SHIRLEY, 
Acting Secretary
Department of Environmental Protection

ROBERT H. BOOS, 
Executive Director
Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority

[Pa.B. Doc. No. 24-1319. Filed for public inspection September 13, 2024, 9:00 a.m.]

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