Fredericktown Water Authority Complies with DEP Order
Washington, PA Observer-Reporter
13 November 2009
By Scott Beveridge, Staff writer
sbeveridge@observer-reporter.com
FREDERICKTOWN – A water authority in Fredericktown has complied with a
state order to quit dumping contaminated water into the Monongahela
River.
The Tri-County Joint Municipal Authority will avoid additional fines
from the state Department of Environmental Protection by completing
construction of a modern water treatment tank.
The $800,000 tank will capture impurities drawn off the plant’s water
filters when they are cleaned, said Jake McCusker, authority chairman.
A chemical is placed into the dirty water to force the sediments to the
bottom of the 190,000-gallon tank. The water in the top section of the
tank is then treated and tested before it is pumped into the river,
McCusker said Friday.
The DEP had fined the authority $100,000 for diverting impure water
into the river, and ordered it to have the treatment tank completed by
October, he said.
The project would have resulted in increased rates for the authority’s
3,000 customers had it not been for a $350,000 federal grant secured
through U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-12th District. Another $35,000 state
grant also was obtained, McCusker said.
“One of our main goals is to try to keep our rates as low as possible,”
he said.
The authority sells water to the State Correctional
Institution-Fayette, Luzerne Township, and households from Scenery Hill
east to Fredericktown.