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Article published February 24, 2010
Cranberry has $5 million in sewer work planned
CRANBERRY TWP — Improvements totaling more than $5 million are planned this year to the township sewage system. Cranberry is upgrading its Interceptor One main sewage collection line that runs through the Brush Creek Valley to its treatment plant off Powell Road. That work is to begin this year and is expected to cost $4 million to $5 million. The township hopes to receive a state grant to offset 50 percent of the cost. Jason Kratsas, director of engineering, told the supervisors recently that the township also is working to update its Act 537 sewage master plan documenting growth and the system's needs. The plan was last updated in 1993. A second project, the final phase of the Fernway sewer rehabilitation job along Robinhood Drive, has been delayed the past several years because of funding, but is expected to begin in 2010 and cost $550,000. The work includes installing a slip lining in the existing sewer line. This is expected to extend the life of the line 50 years. The slip lining has material to keep water out of the collection system. This project also will include repairs to manholes and laterals to homes along Robinhood and the restoration of the road. The Robinhood Drive sewer line is one of the oldest in Cranberry, and will include a 400-foot section that extends down Sherwood Drive, crossing Brush Creek, to the main line, according to township manager Jerry Andree. When this work is done, the entire sewer collection system will have been rehabilitated in the Fernway area. Since the program began in 2003, the township has spent more than $1.4 million in sewage line and stormwater pipe replacements and road improvements in Fernway, Cranberry's oldest housing development. The sewage line work is expected to cut average flows 60 percent during peak times because of the reduction of groundwater infiltration. As the work has been completed, roads have been resurfaced. In 2004, Cranberry began a two-year voluntary driveway pipe replacement program in which the township provided drainage pipes and restored the original swales –– a depression that accommodates drainage. Township officials believe the project was successful as the drainage water now flows through the ditches and the ponding water in front yards has been virtually eliminated. This year, Cranberry increased sewage rates to offset its capital improvement costs. Rates were hiked 30 cents per thousand gallons of water used, with a $2 increase in the base rate. Water rates also were similarly increased because of the capital expenses and the cost of buying water from West View Water Authority. This year's sewage rate is $5.47 per thousand gallons, up from $5.17 per thousand gallons in 2009, with a $20 base rate, up from $18. With the exception of a $3-per-quarter increase in the base rate in 2007, there have been no other sewage rate hikes in a decade. Township staff during the past budget season also recommended increases next year in both water and sewer rates. Those rates would be set during the 2011 budget process. The usage rate for sewers is projected to go up by 20 cents per thousand gallons of water used, while the base rate would increase $1 per quarter. The usage rate for water is projected to go up 25 cents per thousand gallons while the base rate would remain the same.
