Plant becomes operational
SLIPPERY ROCK TWP — The Slippery Rock Municipal Authority's new water treatment plant is operational.
The new, $5 million plant on Hines Road began operating in February, said authority General Manager Paul Dickey.
Construction on the plant began in October 2012. Graziani Construction of New Castle was the contractor.
The plant uses a reverse osmosis system to remove dissolved solids, hardness and sodium. Dickey said the system is similar to what is found on large ships that treat salt water.
“This is pretty high-tech stuff,” Dickey said.
Eventually, Dickey said the new plant will become the primary water source for the authority. It pumped 3 million gallons of water in February.
In 2002, the authority started looking for a new source of water because of a decline in the water level of its two wells, which were drilled in 1954 and 1955 and located at the site of the authority's old water treatment plant on Forrester Road.
The authority and its geologist began looking for water sources and found four or five sites to drill test wells. The source on Hines Road was found to have good quality and similar chemistry to the current source.
Dickey said the authority plans on having an open house at the plant at some point in the future.
The authority also is getting a new wastewater treatment plant at a cost of $10 million.
An evaluation of the plant located on Crestview Road showed the system was aging and can be overloaded during heavy rain, among other things. The plant was built in 1923 and was upgraded in 1964 and 1982.
The project initially was going to be a renovation, but Dickey said that would have cost the same as a new plant.
Construction began in May 2013 and is expected to be finished by the end of the year. Chivers Construction Company of Erie County is the contractor.
The authority is working on getting permits for renovations to the old water treatment plant. The renovations will include new electrical controls and are expected to cost $2 million.
Dickey said, hopefully, construction could start in summer 2015 and finish by that winter.All projects were engineered by HRG Engineering of Cranberry Township.The authority's new office building, located at 116 Crestview Road, has been up and running since September. The pre-manufactured building cost about $200,000.“I think it's pretty good,” Dickey said.The office used to be on Kelly Boulevard, but owner Ron Coyer, an attorney, was looking to expand his practice and declined to renew the authority's lease.There will be no increase in rates this year. Last year, rates increased by 50 cents to $5.70 per 1,000 gallons of water and $6.50 per 1,000 gallons of sewage.The rate increase, along with other rate increases from previous years, were to help pay back loans for the projects. Dickey said that rates will be reevaluated in the future.The authority has 1,750 water connections, with Slippery Rock University among them. It serves customers in Slippery Rock borough and parts of the township.
