Armstrong Co. Projects Receive $10 Million in State Funding

PENNVEST provides money for Kittanning and Pine Township

Two major Armstrong County projects today (October 24) received approval for state funding totaling more than $10 million, according to state Senator Don White, R-41st District, and State Representative Jeffrey Pyle, R-60th District.

The Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PENNVEST) approved $5,261,340 in financing for the Municipal Authority of the Borough of Kittanning and $5,296,333 for Pine Township, according to Senator White, a member of the PENNVEST Board.

The Kittanning Municipal Authority will receive a $929,153 grant and a $4,332,187 low-interest loan from PENNVEST to cover most of the costs of Phases 3 and 4 of its on-going sewer separation project. Phases 3 and 4, which are scheduled to begin in spring 2007, include the installation of 545 feet of 10-inch sanitary sewer line, 9,888 feet of 8-inch sanitary sewer line, and 800 feet of storm sewer pipe in the Borough's 3rd and 4th Wards.

"I am very pleased that PENNVEST is continuing to support Kittanning's efforts to upgrade its sewage system," Senator White said. "This is just the latest in a series of financing packages that the agency has provided to the Borough for the separator project and to upgrade its treatment plant. These projects are necessary and costly. They definitely could have placed a tremendous burden on ratepayers without this PENNVEST financing."

"Kittanning has been extremely active in its efforts to upgrade the sewage system. This is an important project for the community and I am very pleased that PENNVEST approved this financing package," said state Representative Pyle.

In September 2005, the Kittanning Municipal Authority received $1.9 million in PENNVEST financing for Phase 2 of the sewage separation project, which is currently underway and scheduled for completion in February 2007.  Kittanning’s on-going sewage system upgrades also included  $6 million in renovations to its treatment plant in 2000, a project that was also financed by a PENNVEST loan.

Pine Township will receive a $1,201,999 grant and a $4,094,334 low-interest loan to install 19,300 feet of sanitary sewer line, two pump stations, 5,000 feet of force main and a 60,000 gallon-per-day treatment plant to serve the villages of Templeton and Mahoning.

"This will take care of a problem in the Township that is being watched by the state Department of Environmental Protection," said Senator White. "Currently those areas are using wildcat sewer systems with some discharging raw sewage into the Allegheny River. This new system will address that problem and eliminate the hazards to public health and recreation that it may create."