Apr 19, 2018 4 min read

GREENSBORO – A plan to merge Greensboro’s water system into the authority that provides water for much of northern Greene County sprung a leak Wednesday when a state grant to fund the project came in lower than expected.

Engineers planning the $15.7 million project for Southwestern Pennsylvania Water to take over service for the 512 customers in Dunkard Valley’s system had hoped a grant and low-interest loan from the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority, also known as PENNVEST, would be split evenly to fund the upgrade and merger.

But the state agency announced Wednesday afternoon the majority of the financial commitment would come in the form of a $10.6 million loan, with the remaining $5.1 million being paid through a grant. That leaves the project with a $2.5 million shortfall in grant money that Southwestern officials said they need to connect Greensboro and parts of Monongahela Township to their system, which currently serves about 14,000 customers in Greene and Washington counties.

Tim Faddis, manager of Southwestern Pennsylvania Water Authority, said he is organizing a meeting between Dunkard Valley Joint-Municipal Authority, Greene County commissioners and state Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson, to see if there are additional financing options available or if they will need to scale back the scope of the project.

“Maybe we can lay the line ourselves,” Faddis said of using the authority’s workers to perform construction rather than hiring contractors. “The engineers are looking for savings. There are a lot of different ideas. Even when I come up with all of this, we’re still a million short.”

Even with the project fully funded, customers currently in Dunkard Valley would still be paying a $20 surcharge on their monthly water bills to repay the low-interest loan for the merger, Faddis said.

Nate Regotti, Snyder’s chief of staff, said her office is investigating what other grant options are available.

“We’re going to do everything in our power to get this project to happen,” Regotti said.

The authorities have about two months to decide whether to accept or reject the PENNVEST money.

Last July, Greene County received $750,000 from the state’s competitive Community Development Block Grant program that allowed Dunkard Valley to replace a water line on Stoney Hill Road in order to prepare for Southwestern’s water authority acquisition. The project also received about $178,000 from the county’s CDBG money to help replace water meters. Faddis said that Dunkard Valley needed to perform that work regardless of the possible merger.

But without the full grant allotment through PENNVEST, other important upgrades to merge the authorities, such as a 113,000-foot pipeline to connect the systems, construction of a new storage tank and replacement of the older waterlines, are now in jeopardy. Dunkard Valley services Greensboro and the Glassworks, Penn Pitt, Cabbage Flats and Mapletown neighborhoods of Monongahela Township.

“All the lines in the (Greensboro) are bad. They go two or three days without water when they have a break,” Faddis said. “They have an aging plant and issues with discharge. They would have to build a new treatment plant, and it’s hard to find someone with a license with only 512 customers.”

The Dunkard Valley Joint-Municipal Authority Board met during its regular monthly meeting Thursday morning and spoke to Faddis by phone about the situation. Hours later, the five-member board issued a joint statement that it is preparing to meet over the next few weeks with others involved to figure out how to proceed in order “to achieve the goal of the project.”

“After that meeting is held, the authority will schedule a public meeting to provide further information regarding the project,” the board wrote in its statement.