close

Brownsville undergoing ongoing sewage system upgrades

By Christine Haines 2 min read

BROWNSVILLE – Heavy equipment and mounds of gravel can be seen at various locations in downtown Brownsville, evidence of the ongoing upgrades to the sewage system. Rusty Mechling, the engineer for the Brownsville Municipal Authority, said work on A-station, the pump station at Bank and High streets near the Brownsville Riverside Wharf Park, has begun. A temporary pump station will be constructed to handle the flow while a new pump station with a larger capacity is constructed.

Work is also progressing on the main line that will take the raw sewage from A-station to the new sewage treatment plant that will be constructed.

“The force main is about 50 percent done. They still need to go under High Street,” Mechling said.

The line has already been placed under the Bank Street parking lot and runs about halfway down Shady Avenue.

“Equipment is being moved in to start excavation for the new plant. The utilities have already been moved for the new plant,” Mechling said.

The authority is under a consent order from the state Department of Environmental Protection to construct a new plant and upgrade the sewage collection system to prevent raw sewage from entering the Monongahela River during heavy rains or in the event of flooding. The current plant is located within the 100-year flood plain and has been shut down by flooding several times in the past 20 years.

In other matters, the authority members discussed a new contract for the three plant workers during an executive session.

The authority members voted to approve the contract, pending a final review by the solicitor once it is signed by the Construction and General Laborers Union Local 286. The workers have been without a contract since January. The new agreement would run for three years.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $4.79/week.

Subscribe Today