Jeannette flood control project set to begin after years of delays

A long-delayed project to ease flooding concerns in Jeannette is finally expected to begin in early 2025, officials said.

Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County board members this week formally accepted two low-interest 40-year loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to pay for the $14.3 million flooding containment project. It is expected to include the removal of stormwater catch basins throughout the city’s sewer system and the realignment and installation of larger sewer pipes along Chambers Avenue.

The project is expected to also involve the redesign and consolidation of the city’s sewer lines that handle both sewage and stormwater and increase capacity of the system’s sewer treatment plant in Penn.

“It’s finally a permanent solution. This a huge win for Jeannette,” said Mayor Curtis Antoniak. “I’ve lived here and I have been down in that area and have seen the devastation of having sewage in the basement.”

Flooding and sewer backups for years impacted properties on 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th streets in West Jeannette, according to city officials.

Heavy downpours in July 2019 forced sewage and water up through the drains in the basements of some homes and caused appliances and personal items to be destroyed.

That flooding prompted the county authority to formulate a remediation plan under a consent decree signed a decade ago with the state Department of Environmental Protection. Work was ordered to begin no later than 2025.

“Larger pipes will be installed, and we will eliminate sewage from flooding into homes and streams,” said authority consulting engineer Dan Schmitt.

MAWC board members in 2019 approved the Jeannette project, and in 2022 the authority signed an agreement with the city to complete the work.

Financing delays pushed back the project’s start date, according to MAWC manager Michael Kukura.

Authority officials initially planned to pay for what was then expected to be an $11 million project through funds secured from $140 million in borrowing completed in 2016 that was earmarked for general water and sewer system upgrades.

Bond money for the Jeannette project was eventually diverted to pay for expansion of the authority’s Indian Creek water treatment plant near Connellsville, a $25 million project.

Meanwhile, MAWC sought out alternate funding sources for the Jeannette flooding remediation.

“It took us seven years to get the money, and look how much it went up,” Kukura said.

Business manager Brian Hohman said the authority initially sought out federal loans seven years ago and will continue to look for grant funding that could offset a portion of the loans.

“We haven’t stopped the pursuit of grants and still believe there are other and better funding possibilities,” Hohman said.