Oct 5, 2005 By Joyce Koballa 3 min read

BULLSKIN TWP. – Members of the Bullskin Township/Connellsville Township Joint Sewerage Authority are looking into an $18 million price tag placed on the second phase of a multimillion-dollar sewerage project that more than doubled from the $8.3 million cost of the initial phase. The increase was attributed by the project’s engineer to the rising cost of fuel and its affect on the price of materials.

“Certainly that jacked it (the price) up a good bit,” said Dick Widmer, vice president of Widmer Engineering Inc. of Connellsville.

Widmer provided the authority with two options that reflect a $5 million difference by either replacing the transmission lines at the Connellsville Municipal Authority (CMA) sewage treatment plant for $13 million or to build its own plant for $18 million at Mounts Creek in Bullskin Township.

“I didn’t expect it to be quite that high,” said Pat Stefano, authority chairman.

While replacing the lines would enable the authority to use CMA’s plant for its added flow of roughly 135,000 gallons a day, the second option would increase it’s capacity to about 450,000 gallons a day.

Widmer added the cost to only construct the treatment plant would be $4.5 million.

The project’s second phase includes servicing the remaining 523 households excluded from phase one of the project in the areas of the Route 119 corridor to Pennsville and the Route 982 corridor to the Pleasant Valley Country Club, East End Road, Belleview Road, Richey Road, Longanecker Road, Spruce Hollow Road, Swink Hill Road, Englishman Hill Road and Country Club Road.

Aside from looking at the overall price, Widmer suggested the authority also examine the cost as it relates to the number of customers if it decides to build its own plant.

Stefano said he could see how fuel prices would affect the cost of materials since the pipe the authority would be replacing is made out of petroleum, but didn’t agree with the price of the project’s design phase.

Fred Elcock, authority secretary, said the authority currently pays CMA $13,000 a month to treat its sewage, which flows from their interceptor along Route 119 and Memorial Boulevard. The problem, said Elcock, is that the sewage is flowing from the interceptor and into a 60-inch pipe that drains into a nearby creek after heavy rain, causing it to flood and emit an odor.

Elcock said the Department of Environmental Protection approved the flow as part of the project’s first phase when Widmer indicated it would cost the authority roughly $500,000 to build its own treatment plant.

But now, Widmer said the scope of the project is too overwhelming for funding entities to provide enough to make it reasonable for the authority’s share and suggested they “piece meal” it.

“They would need a 75 percent grant and there’s no one out there with that kind of money,” said Widmer.

The project’s initial phase was funded with loans of $350,000 and $1.5 million from the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority and a $2.5 million grant through the Environmental Protection Agency.

“We’re going to start some behind-the-scenes meetings to see what is going on,” Stefano said.