Delmont awards $1.34 million sewage project, next step in state consent order

Delmont officials awarded $1.34 million of sewage work on Tuesday, one of the major steps in addressing a state consent order to curtail sewage overflows.

The work will include the installation of a sewage interceptor on Christy Road, as well as the relocation of a force main on property in neighboring Salem Township.

The force main along with a gravity sewage line runs through the property of the Rock Springs Trust. That’s where, during heavy rains , borough manholes have consistently discharged a mix of stormwater and untreated sewage onto the property and into a tributary of Beaver Run.

The lines have required multiple repairs over the years, and stormwater runoff has eroded portions of the stream, exposing several sections of line.

“Right now, sewage goes from the interceptor at Barrington Ridge and makes a hard right turn to get to our pump station,” Councilman Stan Cheyne said. “This new route will take the hypotenuse … We don’t want to do the 90-degree turn again because that was the source of several problems over the years.”

Cheyne said the new path is as direct as possible, given a significant number of gas rights of way that had to be avoided.

After the work is complete, borough engineer Kevin Brett said flow monitoring will take place to determine the most significant aspect of the project’s second phase — the proper size for an equalization tank that will temporarily store sewage and allow it to drain more slowly.

Borough engineers said in the past that the second phase’s cost could be as much as $3.5 million.

This winter, Westmoreland County Judge Chris Scherer sided with the borough’s petition to use eminent domain in taking a 40-foot-wide easement where the gravity line and force main pass through a Salem property, paving the way for the relocation project to proceed.

Part of the cost will be paid using a $311,000 Pennsylvania Small Water and Sewer grant.

Both Cheyne and borough Solicitor Dan Hewitt also made it clear that a fee being developed by the borough’s newly formed stormwater authority was not going toward paying off the project.

“Stormwater, candidly, is a problem, but the authority is addressing a problem within the borough proper,” Hewitt said.

While the consent order does discuss stormwater infiltrating the sewage system, the authority fee will be used to fund pollution reduction projects within Delmont, which is mandated by the state under a different program.