BRYN MAWR, Pa. – Aqua Pennsylvania has announced that it invested a total of $24.2 million to rebuild and replace aging water and wastewater infrastructure in western Pennsylvania last year.
“As a leading water utility, our number one priority is to deliver safe, reliable drinking water and wastewater services to our customers,” said Marc Lucca, Aqua Pennsylvania president.
“While infrastructure across the country is in critical need of replacement, Aqua Pennsylvania is proud to be playing a role in addressing this challenge head-on across the commonwealth.
“Our capital improvement program allows us to make continuous and necessary investments to update water and wastewater treatment facilities and distribution and collection systems to ensure we have dependable infrastructure in place.”
The majority of the work was done in areas where Aqua has its most customers. In total in 2017, Aqua invested:
- $8.7 million in Clearfield County
- $1.4 million in McKean County
- $7.2 million Mercer County
- $1.6 million in Venango County
A significant amount of work was completed at Aqua’s Treasure Lake and Emlenton wastewater systems last year.
Aqua spent $2 million on the Treasure Lake wastewater system in Clearfield County, including $891,000 for repairs to its collection system and manholes.
Other improvements included upgrades to its pump stations and improvements to the wastewater treatment plant.
Aqua invested $1.6 million in its Emlenton wastewater facilities in Venango County, of which $1.1 million was spent on collections system repairs and $500,000 for wastewater treatment plant improvements.
The company also replaced 25,160 feet of old water main in Treasure Lake on Old Treasure Lake Road, Hastings and Clipper courts, and on Admiral Dunbar court and road, and Bay Road, totaling $2.6 million.
Crews completed $4.1 million of water main replacement projects including the $1.5 million replacement of8,781 feet of old water main on Carribean and Basse Terre roads.
In other parts of Aqua’s Western Division, crews completed a $600,000 main replacement project in Sharon, Mercer County to install 2,800 feet of new pipe on Baldwin Street between Morrison and Prindle streets.
Also in Sharon, crews installed 2,250 feet of new pipe on Meek Street between Jefferson and Sharpsville avenues at a cost of $355,000.
Crews installed 2,331 feet of pipe on Spearman, Lee and Federal streets between Broadway and Kedron in Farrell, Mercer County at a cost of $475,000.
Aqua built a $432,000 booster station at its Mount Jewett water system in McKean County to bring the pressure to appropriate levels. Prior to Aqua’s purchase of the system, water pressure was below that required by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.
Across Pennsylvania, Aqua invested more than $225 million in infrastructure in 2017 alone. The company plans to spend another $227 million statewide in 2018.
Aqua Pennsylvania serves approximately 1.4 million people in 32 counties throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
