Sewer authority set to expand its water reuse program

Centre Region municipalities voted Monday to allow the sewer authority to expand its beneficial reuse water program.

The University Area Joint Authority will be extending a beneficial reuse waterline into Harris Township, along U.S. Route 322, to serve Mountain View Country Club.

In February 2016, the Centre Region Council of Governments General Forum approved UAJA’s Act 537 (Pennsylvania Sewage Facilities Act) plan special study to look at expanding the beneficial reuse water program, which treats and reuses wastewater.

Serving beneficial reuse water to Tussey Mountain Ski Area and the Boalsburg Technology Park was also included in the study, but that pipe will be a future phase with separate permitting, said Cory Miller, UAJA executive director.

The cost will be $2.7 million, he said.

Mountain View will use beneficial reuse water to spray irrigate its golf course, Miller said, with a peak irrigation flow of 350,000 gallons per day.

Permitting, easement acquisition and design will ideally be completed by April, Miller said. Installation would then begin in May and be slated for completion in May 2019.

UAJA’s intention is to use its infrastructure crews to build the project, he said, however the project hasn’t been designed so it’s possible that the authority might look at bidding it out.

The directional drilling portion of the project will be put out to bid, he said, because UAJA doesn’t have the equipment to do that.

The beneficial reuse program helps UAJA comply with its nitrogen mass limit, which is the limiting factor on sewage capacity at this time, he said.

College, Ferguson, Halfmoon, Harris and Patton Townships and State College borough all adopted individual resolutions to approve the special study.

This story was originally published October 23, 2017 at 9:15 PM with the headline "Sewer authority set to expand its water reuse program."