Casino proceeds aid PT Sanitary Authority expansion project
A half-million dollars generated by gambling at The Meadows Racetrack and Casino and appropriated through the Local Share Account is aiding the construction of the Peters Township Sanitary Authority’s new sewage treatment plant along West McMurray Road.
The new plant, which will have a capacity of 1.75 million gallons per day, is known as the Donaldson’s Crossroads sewer improvement project. It replaces a sewage treatment plant built in 1962 when Peters had much more farmland and a far smaller population than the 21,213 recorded in the 2010 U.S. Census.
When completed, the plant, to be known as the Donaldson’s Crossroads Water Pollution Control Plant, will serve the southwestern part of the township, including most of the Route 19 commercial corridor, which serves the equivalent of 2,600 households.
The new plant is being constructed to correct what the state law calls an “organic overload condition” and to expand the plant’s capacity in wet weather.
Kukurin Contracting Inc. of Export, Westmoreland County, was awarded the $13,781,682 general construction contract for the treatment plant in December and work began in January. The project is scheduled to be completed by late next year.
Jim Miskis, Peters Township Sanitary Authority manager, at the county commissioners’ meeting Thursday, called the new plant “a huge environmental benefit.” Also attending the meeting was David G. Blazek, chairman of the sanitary authority’s board of directors.
In addition to the $500,000 Local Share Account allocation, administered by the Washington County Redevelopment Authority on behalf of the county commissioners, the Peters Township Sanitary Authority was able to leverage a state-subsidized, low-interest $11 million loan from Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority, commonly known as PennVEST, a $5.8 million sewer revenue bond guaranteed by Peters Township. The sanitary authority is also using its own budgeted funds.
The sanitary authority, which, according to its website, serves approximatley 6,000 customers, applied for the local share money in 2014.