Dush tours wastewater treatment facility; Sewer board seeks grants for $40M project
KEVIN RAUCH/FOR THE EXPRESS The Western Clinton County Municipal Authority welcomed PA State Senator Cris Dush as well as representatives from PennVEST, as they seek grants for a new wastewater treatment facility that would cost between $35-$40 million to complete. Along with WCCMA superintendent Kyle Stewart, engineers Mark Glenn and Chris Eckenrode explained what is becoming an urgent need as the current facility is nearly 50 years old.
KEVIN RAUCH/FOR THE EXPRESS Superintendent Kyle Stewart, right, took Senator Dush and his district office staff member, Mark Ling, on a tour of the facility, which heaped praise from the state senator throughout his visit.
KEVIN RAUCH/FOR THE EXPRESS The Western Clinton County Municipal Authority welcomed PA State Senator Cris Dush as well as representatives from PennVEST, as they seek grants for a new wastewater treatment facility that would cost between $35-$40 million to complete. Along with WCCMA superintendent Kyle Stewart, engineers Mark Glenn and Chris Eckenrode explained what is becoming an urgent need as the current facility is nearly 50 years old.
KEVIN RAUCH/FOR THE EXPRESS Superintendent Kyle Stewart, right, took Senator Dush and his district office staff member, Mark Ling, on a tour of the facility, which heaped praise from the state senator throughout his visit.
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RENOVO -- Pa. State Senator Cris Dush and representatives from PennVEST visited and toured the Western Clinton County Municipal Authority Wastewater Treatment Facility, as the sewage treatment plant's board seeks grants totaling between $35-40 million for a complete overhaul of the site.
WCCMA Superintendent Kyle Stewart said, "it's a fact that issues are on the horizon" without help through grants, as the cost of the proposed project simply contains too high of a price tag and cannot be passed along to the customers.
The WCCMA had a bullet point presentation prepared, showing what dire straits the area could face if funding isn't secured.
A sobering statistic read that as of the 2020 census, Renovo Borough was the second poorest community in Pennsylvania.
In an odd twist, it was the odds that the town faces yet continues moving forward that proved to be one of the biggest selling points for the guests on hand.
After Stewart, along with engineers Mark Glenn and Chris Eckenrode of the Gwin, Dobson and Foreman, went down the list of why a new treatment plant is needed, Dush lauded several compliments, before assuring that the project has his support.
"After I parked and as I walked over here, the first thing I noticed was the care of the equipment. It was very obvious that everything from tools and weed eaters, that everything is very well taken care of," said Dush.
"You've done more with less than any plant that I have seen. Ever since I've gotten into this and Clinton County was on my desk, this town has been fighting, you guys have done so much, with so little, for so long," he continued.
Dush continued his compliments to the treatment facility and the area it calls home.
"I fully support this, I want to see this town come back. This (treatment facility) and the hospital are two things I could not support more," Dush summed up. He made several references to the Bucktail Medical Center and Renovo's resolve.
During the meeting Stewart gave a poignant thank-you to the senator for all that he has already done for the area. The WCCMA Board members additionally praised Dush for his obvious compassion for the area following the meeting.
Fiscal Policy Manager David Henning, of PennVEST, also praised the treatment facility in Renovo.
"You look around here, it all being centered around the 50-year-old building, of all of the treatment plants that I've been at, clearly you take pride in ownership. This is the type of project we love funding," said Henning.
Stewart was asked what would happen if funding was not received. He gave a blunt assessment of future issues that certainly lay ahead.
"We're trying to stay a day or two ahead of a major break-down. We're trying to not wait until failure, we don't want to end up with a black eye and being in the newspaper for having an environmental disaster and polluting the river," he said.
"We're trying to get ahead of that. We've pushed it to the brink. It's a fact, issues are on the horizon," Stewart added.
Being unable to perform upgrades would result in violations due to inadequate treatment, one of the many urgent issues faced due to the aging plant. New reactors and clarifiers will be needed soon, but they would simply serve as bandages on a much bigger problem.
A FEMA 100-year floodplain is 3.5 feet above the current treatment plant which would seemingly devastate not just Renovo but surrounding communities whose waste flows into the facility. A re-built plant would prepare for that as it would be elevated, flood proofed and designed to resist buoyancy.
Although he has retired in recent years, South Renovo's Jamie Stone is held in the highest of regards for his operating the facility in Renovo for 46 years prior to his retirement.
Stone passed along his operating procedures to Stewart and anyone involved with the WCCMA would quickly tell you that's a major factor in the facility running so effectively since its construction a half of a century ago.
If funding is secured the project would take an estimated 2.5 years to complete, as a shut-down would not be possible for the facility and its customers.