Freeport Council moves forward on sewage project, without help from South Buffalo

Freeport officials have decided to move forward on a new sewage treatment plant without neighboring South Buffalo, as was once the plan.

For several years, South Buffalo officials expressed interest in having Freeport’s plant serve at least part of their township. However, there has been no commitment from South Buffalo, and Freeport Council said at a meeting last month they are tired of waiting.

“What we’re building, we’re building for Freeport,” council Vice President Sean McCalmont said. “We can’t wait any longer. We’re under the gun.”

Paul Bergad, chairman of South Buffalo’s Water and Sewage Authority, said he knew nothing of Freeport’s frustration until reading about it in the newspaper. Bergad said South Buffalo and Freeport officials had met twice to discuss the possibility of a joint venture, which he said would have saved “millions and millions of dollars.”

“At one point, they had stopped communicating with us,” Bergad said.

Freeport must comply with state and federal mandates requiring the borough to capture and treat 86% of its sewage flow before releasing it back into the Allegheny River. The deadline for state and federal approval of the new sewer plant design is January 2021.

Freeport Council ran into a major hurdle for this project last year, when it discovered the original $11.1 million project cost estimate was off by more than $4 million. After seriously considering a change in engineering firms, council decided at its Feb. 3 meeting to stay with KLH and proceed to the second phase.

Kevin Creagh, the project’s current KLH engineer, said Monday the design for the new plant should be completed sometime after Labor Day. In the meantime, crews will be drilling the area and excavating for the tanks, which will be anchored to rocks and pilings. Borough council decided Monday night to go with two steel tanks instead of concrete tanks, saving about $750,000.

A conference will soon be scheduled between borough officials, KLH Engineering and PennVEST concerning project financing. Once the design is completed and submitted, Creagh said it will take at least another year for the design review and approvals needed — perhaps longer for the borough to secure the necessary funding for construction.

“If they get the money, in the best-case scenario you wouldn’t see construction until 2022,” Creagh said.

Freeport’s current plant, built around 1964, is outdated because stormwater and sewage pipes are co-mingled. During heavy rainfall events, untreated sewage flows into Buffalo Creek.

“In the time I’ve been on this council, I have seen no urgency by South Buffalo to do something about this,” Freeport Councilman Dino DiGiacobbe said.

McCalmont said there was discussion about extending sewage lines from Freeport to the sewage plant in the Northpointe Industrial Park in South Buffalo to treat the borough’s sewage there.

Bergad said the South Buffalo facility is “fairly new.” But McCalmont said it makes no sense for Freeport to use the Northpointe plant because it would be too far and too expensive.

“Northpointe is no bigger than our plant,” McCalmont said. “They would have to upgrade the plant and triple the capacity to take our stuff.”

Bergad said South Buffalo is still willing to negotiate and collaborate. It was never off the table, he said.

“At this point, we’re always still open to sit down with Freeport and see if something could be worked out between the two municipalities,” Bergad said.

The new plant will have a daily capacity of 3 million gallons. A new pump station also will be built, and the plant will have the ability to increase capacity if another municipality — like South Buffalo — wishes to join forces.

KLH will give council updates the fourth Monday of each month as part of the borough council’s agenda meeting.

Tom Yerace and George Guido are freelance writers. Teghan Simonton is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Teghan at 724-226-4680, tsimonton@tribweb.com or via Twitter @teghan_simonton.