Deadlines problematic for authority

The Altoona Water Authority won't need to pay a fine for missing an interim deadline on its proposed upgrade of the Easterly Sewer Treatment Plant, state officials said Wednesday during a meeting with authority representatives in Harrisburg.

But the authority said Thursday that it still needs to meet state deadlines for discharging better quality treated water - not only from the Easterly plant near Pinecroft but also from the Westerly plant near Duncansville. The authority still needs to find the money to do the work.

The deadline for compliance with the new Easterly standards is September 2013, a year later than the Westerly compliance deadline.

The renovations will actually need to be done a year earlier because the authority must show a year's worth of data to demonstrate compliance, authority General Manager Mark Perry said.

The authority recently missed the deadline to notify the state Department of Environmental Protection that it planned to apply for a design permit for the Easterly work.

The authority must submit a new set of interim deadlines for the project by Aug. 20.

Funding is the ultimate problem: The westerly upgrade will cost about $25.8 million and the easterly as much as $40 million.

Pennvest recently denied a request to fund the Westerly upgrade because the project ranked too low in "priority points" compared to other projects. Westerly received 49 points, five points short of the last project funded, authority member Tony Ruggery said.

The authority hopes to improve that ranking for Pennvest's next disbursement after Labor Day.

Officials told authority engineer Mark Glenn that the project could gain 24 points because of a wet-weather overloading problem that the project would cure.

It might collect some additional points, if the authority demonstrates that the project will enable the creation of jobs and brownfield development.

"Hopefully with a few tweaks, they'll be successful," DEP spokeswoman Lauri Lebo said.

If the authority can't get a grant or low-interest loan from the agency, it could resort to bonds, officials said.

Recently, authority member and banker Patrick Dumm said the bond market was virtually nonexistent, but Thursday, he said money is probably available at 4 to 4.5-percent interest.

Borrowing $60 million at 4.5 percent for 20 years would ultimately cost authority ratepayers $10.3 million more than borrowing from Pennvest, according to a calculator on the agency's Web site.

Ruggery told a DEP official it wouldn't be fair to burden ratepayers with such a big increase. The official said he pays $70 a month himself.

"He shot me down," Ruggery said.

Authority rates are actually not that far away. Customers who use the national average of 10,000 gallons a month pay about $59 a month for sewer service.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.