University Area Joint Authority will extend its beneficial water reuse to Harris Township following approval on Monday night by the Centre Region Council of Governments.
The extension of the water reuse lines will serve Mountain View Country Club for spray irrigation, and potentially in the future Tussey Mountain Ski Area and Boalsburg Technology Park.
The COG municipalities voted unanimously to amend Act 537, the Centre Region’s sewage management plan, to allow for the extension, which will go from the booster station near Centre Hills Country Club in College Township and follow a UAJA sewer easement along Route 322 around the interchange and past Oak Hall Park.
Cory Miller, UAJA executive director, said the project will take place off of the roadway and will not impact traffic along Route 322.
A special study was authorized in February 2016 to look at extending the beneficial reuse program, which consists of treatment and purification of treated water from the UAJA plant for distribution to commercial and environmental sites. Beneficial reuse water is currently distributed to nine sites.
The projected cost of the extension is $2.7 million, up from a previous estimate of $2.1 million. Miller said that increase is due to rock along the route the line will follow and other incidentals.
Mountain View will be the first customer served by the extension, with an estimated peak irrigation flow of 350,000 gallons per day. Tussey Mountain and Boalsburg Technology Park also are included in the study and cost projection, but the pipe to serve those areas will not be built in this phase.
‘That will be a future phase that will go through separate permitting, but we wanted to include it in the Act 537 plan so we don’t have to come back and do this all again,’ Miller said.
Tussey could use up to 1.4 million gallons per day for snow making and irrigation, Miller said. The beneficial water reuse at all of the locations will help UAJA comply with nitrogen mass limits, ‘which is the limiting factor on sewage capacity at this time,’ he added.
Permitting, easement acquisition and project design are expected to be completed by April with installation beginning in May and completion anticipated in May 2019. Miller said the timeline is a little longer because of some directional drilling that will be required.
UAJA’s intention is to use its own crews for about 75 percent of the work.
‘It is possible that through design we may look at bidding it out,’ he said. ‘We’re seeing if we can get a price and whether we’re competitive with it.’
He added that about 25 percent of the project will involve directional drilling and that portion will be bid out because UAJA doesn’t have the equipment necessary.
