Saxonburg sewage plant has room to grow
PENN TWP — Ten years after opening, the Saxonburg Area Authority's sewage treatment plant off Renfrew Road still has room to serve more customers.
Paul Cornetti, authority manager, said the average daily flow actually has been shrinking since 2011 due to sewage line replacements.
“If there's not a tight seal, then rain water can get in,” he said.
The former treatment plant on Dinnerbell Road in Jefferson Township — which serviced 1,125 residential and business customers in Saxonburg, Clinton Township and Jefferson Township — put out a daily average of 534,000 gallons.
After the new plant was operational with the initial addition of 1,785 Middlesex and Penn customers, the flow exceeded an average of a million gallons daily. Eventually, another 243 customers connected.
After peaking at 1.2 million gallons in 2011, the plant's daily flow fluctuated slightly through 2014 with an overall drop to 788,000 gallons last year.
Cornetti said the authority spent nearly $2 million replacing lines in the system, which reduced the amount of rainwater seeping inside loosened seals.
“You can see the effect it had,” he said.
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