Apr 2, 2006 By Rebekah Sungala 3 min read

FAIRCHANCE – Gov. Ed Rendell presented local officials with a $10.5 million check for a new sewer system that will benefit almost 1,700 families in Fairchance Borough and Georges Township. The check presentation was Rendell’s second stop in Fayette County on Saturday. He took part in the official groundbreaking ceremony for the Uniontown-to-Brownsville link of the Mon/Fayette Expressway just hours before arriving at the Fairchance Volunteer Fire Department, where he met with township supervisors, borough officials and sewage authority members.

The Fairchance Georges Joint Municipal Authority, which services both Fairchance and Georges Township, will use the $10.5 million to lay 19 miles of sewage collection lines, to construct a pump station and to expand the authority’s wastewater treatment plant.

The work will be done over the next 10 months.

Rendell said $8.7 million of the funding is in the form of a 1-percent loan from the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PENNVEST), with state grants making up the balance.

The state grants come from the $200 million Water Supply and Wastewater Infrastructure Program (PennWorks), which was established in 2004 and provides single-year or multi-year grants and loans to municipalities and municipal authorities, industrial development corporations and investor-owned water or wastewater enterprises for projects that construct, expand or improve water and wastewater infrastructure related to economic development.

When campaigning a few years ago, Rendell said he met with several Fayette County officials, asking them what they needed in order to develop the area and improve the quality of life. He said everyone mentioned transportation and infrastructure.

“Throughout the last three years, we have invested state resources to help communities like Fairchance and Georges Township meet challenges like this and improve the quality of life for residents and businesses,” Rendell said.

State Sen. Richard Kasunic (D-Dunbar), who spoke during the check presentation, said the sewer system project will benefit 1,676 families in Fayette County. And, Kasunic said the sewerage system will not only help the environment, but will also help the community attract more investment opportunities and businesses.

Georges Township Supervisor Mike Bartock said residents will benefit from the new sewer system by having a cleaner, healthier environment to live in.

Bartock said the new system will also provide sewer services to unutilized land, thus enabling it to be developed, and will take care of any problems associated with current malfunctioning residential systems.

Dennis Eicher, treasurer of the joint municipal authority, said the new sewer system will serve the Fayette County Vocational-Technical School, the Village of Old Wynn, the Village of Oliphant and Husted Heights.

He said the project will also serve those in the area along Hopwood-Fairchance Road from the South Union Township line to the Fairchance Borough limits, including various sewer extensions in Fairchance to serve households not included in the initial 1980s construction.

In addition, Eicher said a 24-inch relief sewer that will eliminate basement flooding and sewer overflows in the Lyons Area of Fairchance is included in the scope of the project.

Because the state is providing the funding for the project, Bartock said residents will pay lower monthly fees.

Rendell said the average household will save about $227 a year.

“By using PENNVEST and PennWorks funds for this project, customers will save $11.4 million over the life of the loan compared with what it would have cost to borrow this money on the open market,” the governor said.