Kiski Township planning massive public sewage expansion

Public sewage in Kiski Township could go from a rarity to standard in most well-populated areas of the township before the end of the decade.

A draft comprehensive sewage plan introduced this month details intentions to hook up nearly 1,000 homes in and around the township’s Orchard Hill and Spring Church neighborhoods, including the Pine Valley Estates trailer park and Apollo-Ridge High School.

Currently, those properties collect and treat waste on site.

It’s known as an Act 537 plan, after a 1966 state law that requires municipalities to address sewage disposal needs.

Early estimates show a five-phase, up to $50 million project on the horizon, depending on which of four alternatives is selected.

Ideally, most of it will be paid for by the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority, commonly called PennVEST, but Kiski Valley Water Pollution Control Authority ratepayers could see higher bills regardless of how much state funding comes through.

Residents within the targeted zone can also expect tap-in fees in the ballpark of a few thousand dollars.

Officials are anticipating a robust community response to the proposal, which is available for public review at the township office and might soon be seen on the township’s website.

That’s why a public information session starting at 7 p.m. Feb. 20 will be held at the Kiski Township fire hall, instead of the comparatively small government center.

“I’m going to guarantee you we’re going to have more than this show up,” Richard Lenhart of LSSE Civil Engineers and Surveyors told supervisors and a crowd of about 15 residents at the township’s last public meeting.

In addition to speaking at the meeting, residents can send written comments to the township office, 1222a Old State Road.

From there, supervisors need to send the plan to the state Department of Environmental Protection for review.

Construction could start as early as June 2028, with the first new sewage connections expected about a year after that.

At the very least, there won’t be uniform opposition to the Act 537 plan. Joe Rainelli, for one, is ready to pay the price.

For years, he has paid nearly $500 every six weeks to have a concrete sewage tank is his backyard pumped out.

His house along Old State Road was built in the 1960s with a septic system. When he tried to sell the home after his mother died, the system didn’t pass inspection.

Not wanting to see his childhood home fall into disrepair and unable to find a buyer, he took it for himself and installed what’s typically a temporary sewage setup.

“When people start to complain, I’m going to point out to them: Once you’re in this situation, you’re screwed,” Rainelli said.

Just over half of Kiski Township on-lot sewage systems assessed by then-Sewage Enforcement Officer Rebecca Rupert are failing or suspected of failing, according to a report she prepared in July. That category included septic systems, sand mounds and holding tanks.

Another one-third of these systems have possible malfunctions.

That leaves only 14% of the surveyed township homes with adequate on-lot sewage treatment.

Kiski Township’s original Act 537 plan was approved in 1980, which brought sewer lines to a slice of the township near Jackson, Sugar Hill and McKinstry Hill roads.

Attempts to expand this network have generally run out of money and under-delivered.

“That was part of the problem before … there was never any concerted sewer planning,” Lenhart said.

In 2021, the township tried something new, turning over responsibility for the sewers to a newly created authority.

The Kiski Township Sewage Authority dissolved in every way but name at the end of last year, handing back to the township about $150,000 and an unfulfilled mandate to massively expand the sewage network.