Cost of Allegheny Valley Joint Sewage Authority’s treatment plant expansion jumps 25%
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Estimated costs have climbed by about 25% to $75 million for the Allegheny Valley Joint Sewage Authority’s treatment plant expansion project.
Plans for the expansion have been the works for years. Details of the project and obtaining permits are in progress for the federally mandated upgrade to control discharges of sewage and stormwater into the Allegheny River.
The Authority plans to expand its sewage treatment capacity from the current 5.5 million gallons a day to 8 million gallons by 2023.
Earlier this year, the project was estimated to cost between $50 million and $60 million.
The recent cost estimate increase, which included acquisition of land, easements and “soft” costs, came up during a recent meeting of the Authority’s board. The board is made up of five members of the four communities it serves: Cheswick, Harmar, Springdale and Springdale Township.
Member communities are waiting for final figures but Authority board member, Lee Biermeyer, who is also vice president of the Harmar supervisors, asked for a third-party engineer to review the cost estimates.
“I asked for a second set of eyes to see if something was duplicated or redundant,” Biermeyer told other Harmar supervisors last week.
But other Authority board members did not agree to pay an extra $25,000 to $50,000 for the review, according to Biermeyer.
Another Harmar supervisor, Harry Lenhart, said the township is on hook for 19% of the project cost.
“That’s quite a chunk of money,” he said. “Our ratepayers will be paying this forever.”
The authority plans to pay for the expansion through a bond issue.
Details of how each community will pay their share hasn’t been worked out, but officials have been anticipating taking the financial hit, said Paul Jack, Cheswick Council president.
“We know this has been coming down the road,” Jack said. “We will look for ways of cushioning the increases. But we don’t have the final figure and timing to put any of the options into place.”
Preliminary costs floated a few years ago estimated more than a three-fold increase for an average household from $45 a quarter to $150 per quarter.
Again, officials are not saying for sure what residents will end up paying.
For example, Cheswick is getting ready to pay off some debt for waterlines that is built into budget, Jack said. Some of the sewage project expense can be absorbed there.
Calls to Authority Manager Tim Kephart for comment were not immediately returned Tuesday afternoon.