Mar 2, 2018 4 min read

Peters Township Council approved a resolution that will result in the lifting of a temporary ban on sanitary sewer taps in the eastern part of the municipality.

The action Monday night represents the township’s agreement to changes in the basis of design for the expansion of the Clairton Waste Water Treatment Plant, resulting in higher costs for the project. The facility, in the city of Clairton near the Monongahela River, handles discharge from the Peters Creek Sanitary Authority service area, which includes parts of the township east of Bower Hill Road and south of Sugar Camp Road.

Clairton Municipal Authority, which owns the treatment plant, announced the tap ban Dec. 1, to be effective “until the funding for the remainder of the project is in place,” according to a letter written by authority superintendent Brian Secrest.

Later in the month, Peters Creek Sanitary Authority joined Jefferson Hills Borough and South Park Township to file civil action against the Clairton authority to lift the ban and to provide further information to Peters Creek, including an answer to the question:

“Why wasn’t PCSA notified of the cost overruns and the 39 percent increase in the cost of the project when it was known to CMA.”

The estimate in 2011 was $40 million, with a $49 million bond issue the following year covering the anticipated cost plus related expenditures, according to the wastewater treatment agreement signed in May 2012 by representatives of Clairton, Jefferson Hills, South Park and Peters Creek Sanitary Authority. Each entity was assigned a share of the annual debt service, with Peters Creek paying 26.13 percent.

Cost projections since have risen by $15.2 million, and in approving the agreement for the applicable design changes, Peters Township essentially accepts that figure.

“No one knows what the total cost of this project is yet, because it hasn’t been engineered,” township manager Paul Lauer said at the Monday council meeting. “And until it’s engineered, all these numbers are just wild guesses, and it wouldn’t surprise me that this comes back to the township to another amendment to the Act 537 plan.”

His reference was to the state Department of Environmental Protection’s requirement for municipalities to develop and implement comprehensive plans providing for the resolution of existing sewage disposal problems and addressing future needs. The DEP mandated the Clairton plant’s expansion.

The Peters Township resolution contains several conditions, including the means to better monitor the progress of the plant expansion and other Clairton Municipal Authority matters.

“I do believe that we owe it to the people who are serviced by Peters Creek Sanitary Authority in Peters Township to continue to pursue representation on the Clairton Municipal board,” Lauer said. “The solicitor from the authority has indicated that he is willing to continue those discussions, even with this approved, and I think we should take him up on that.”

Although Peters Township was the last of affected municipalities to approve similar resolutions, and as such became the determining factor in having the tap ban lifted, council’s vote was 4-3, with Frank Arcuri, David Ball and Frank Kosir Jr. opposing.

Ball, in particular, criticized the process surrounding the plant expansion along with the conditions placed on the resolution.

“Putting a third-party audit in place resolves nothing. OK, so we found out what the problem was. It doesn’t solve anything going forward,” he said. “Submitting monthly scheduled updates, great. Now we know that we’re going to be in trouble a little bit quicker.”

Monica Merrell, who represents council’s District B, most of which is within the Peters Creek watershed, voted in favor of the resolution although she agrees that it is not ideal.

“I think it’s incumbent on us to be very clear to Peters Creek Sanitary Authority that they need to be aggressive in pursuing other resources, other solutions,” she said. “There needs to be representation. There needs to be a seat at the table, so that there can be part in the decision making, not just reacting and opening up a pocketbook.”

The sanitary authority also provides service to parts of North Strabane, Nottingham and Union Townships, along with Finleyville, where its office is located. Several years ago, the DEP rejected the authority’s request to construct its own sewage treatment facility.