CRANBERRY TWP — Township officials announced Thursday night they’ve reached an agreement to provide Marshall Township with an additional 550,000 gallons of sewage treatment capacity per day.

That increase in flow could bring about $7 million into the township, money that will be used exclusively for upgrades and renovations to Cranberry’s Brush Creek wastewater treatment plant.

Assistant township manager Duane McKee said the upgrades and renovations are tentatively scheduled to cost somewhere around $45 million, meaning Marshall Township’s contributions will slightly lessen the financial burden for Cranberry.

However, manager Jerry Andree cautioned that Marshall Township’s contribution won’t lessen the cost for Cranberry residents, given that every cent Marshall Township pays will go directly toward upgrading Brush Creek to handle the additional flow requested by Marshall.

McKee said Marshall Township currently buys about 750,000 gallons of flow per day to meet the wastewater needs of its population. That number is expected to increase to 1.3 million gallons per day under the new agreement.

Like Cranberry, Marshall Township continues to grow, which is the impetus behind its request for an increased flow.

“Our growth has been quite a bit more rapid than Marshall, but in the last two years their projections of anticipated growth have shown a definitive need for more capacity,” McKee said.

McKee said Marshall Township likely will pay the $7 million, a number that is likely to change, in one lump sum sometime later this year.

McKee added that Marshall Township’s final payment number won’t be solidified until Cranberry officials put the Brush Creek upgrades and renovations out to bid.

Only then will the final cost of the project become known, he said, and only then can Cranberry officials determine Marshall Township’s portion of the final cost.

Andree said Cranberry has had a long-standing relationship with its neighbor to the south, adding that the two municipalities have had a sewage agreement since 1989.

This most recent agreement cements the fact that the two municipalities will be working together for many years to come.

Bill Campbell, manager of Marshall’s sanitary authority, said Marshall will pay 14.8 percent of the final cost of the project.

He said the two sides have been in discussions for more than a year.

“We’ve finally come to an agreement where we’ll be paying a certain percentage of the cost,” he said. “It works out to 14.8 percent of the total cost.”

Cranberry’s board of supervisors approved the new agreement at a meeting Thursday night.