Grants

Gettysburg Municipal Authority Honors Senator

GETTYSBURG, PA - August 10, 2009 - Members of the Gettysburg Municipal Authority today honored State Senator Richard Alloway II (R-33rd District) for his support of programs that helped fund federally mandated improvements to the Gettysburg Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP).

The Municipal Authority is receiving $5 million from the H2O PA Act, established by the General Assembly in July 2008. The Act provides grants to Municipalities or Municipal Authorities to assist with the construction of drinking water, sanitary sewer or storm sewer projects. The grant funding for Gettysburg will offset more than a third of the estimated $14 million that will be needed to upgrade the Gettysburg WWTP to meet new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirements for cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay.

"Meeting new standards for cleaner water carries real costs that ultimately fall on ordinary people," said Authority Board Member Bill Monahan. "The grand funding we're receiving helps offset the costs of upgrading the plant and will help keep sewer rates low in the Gettysburg area."

The upgrades will involve installation of additional wastewater treatment equipment and improvements to the treatment process to remove additional nitrogen and phosphorus from treated water flowing into Rock Creek, which is a tributary of the Potomac River and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay.

Members of the Municipal Authority presented Senator Alloway with a Mason jar filled with clean water from Rock Creek.

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July, 2009 - $20,000 was awarded from PENNVEST (Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority) to institute a water conservation rain-barrel program and to improve the collection and treatment of sewage in part by eliminating residential illegal connections.