About 135 moderate- to low-income families in Mercer Township will receive public sewer service due to failing on-lot septic systems.

The county commissioners approved a cooperation agreement with the township at their July 10 meeting that will extend sewer laterals into Forestville and Harrisville.

Richard Stuchel, chairman of the Mercer Township supervisors, said Wednesday that the homes in Harrisville along Route 58 are on heavy clay soil that is not conducive to an on-lot septic system.

The Forestville houses are on lots that are too small to efficiently accommodate individual septic systems, he said.

The Harrisville homes sewer will be processed in Grove City, and Forestville will get its own small processing plant.

All those receiving the public sewer lines, which were required by the state Department of Environmental Protection, will pay a $1,500 tap-in fee and about $60 per month for service, Stuchel said.

He expects all construction, including the processing plant and sewer lines, to be complete by late August.

The homeowners then will be responsible for connecting their residences to the public line. He expects that work to be done by early September.