MAWC purchases Sewickley Township sewer system

A small sewer system that services more than 1,400 customers in Sewickley Township was purchased last week by the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County.

The county utility agreed to pay the township $1.75 million in cash and assume another $11.5 million in debt recently borrowed to build two treatment plants to service local sewer operations, including one that must be put online.

“This is just another opportunity for us to provide better service and a more efficient operation,” authority Manager Michael Kukura said.

The purchase adds to the authority’s growing sewer business, which now has more than 26,000 customers and includes eight different local systems purchased by the county agency over the last decade. The authority primarily serves as a water provider to more than 120,000 customers in five counties.

As part of its deal with Sewickley, the authority will take over the township municipal authority, which serves customers in Herminie and Hutchinson. Sewer rates will be frozen for those customers for the next five years and the county authority will take on one township employee, Kukura said.

Sewer rates increased for Sewickley customers this year to pay for construction of the new treatment plants.

Kukura said the authority will continue to look to purchase other municipal water and sewer systems to add to its customer base. Sewer systems in Hempfield, Jeannette, Youngwood, Ligonier, Penn Borough, Avonmore and a small plant that services a county-owned industrial park have been previously purchased by the county utility.

“Being a regional provider benefits customers and benefits the authority,” Kukura said.

Rich Cholodofsky is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Rich at 724-830-6293 or rcholodofsky@tribweb.com.