MAHONING AND UNION TOWNSHIPS Utility gets state loan and will put in waterlines

A $750 tap-in fee will help pay for some work in Mahoning Township.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- By year's end, about 800 Mahoning and Union township residents will have public water service.
Pennsylvania-American Water Co. was approved Wednesday for a $4.55 million low-interest loan from the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority to pay for the construction of a main waterline and storage tank.
More than 58,000 feet of new waterlines will be installed from U.S. Routes 422 and 224 in Union Township into Mahoning Township.
Tentative schedule: Chuck Johnston, Pennsylvania-American vice president of business development, said work should start on the waterline by June and finish by the end of the year. The 1-million-gallon water tank will be finished sometime in 2003, he said.
"We've been planning this for several years. We are really excited this loan was approved, and we are anxious to get started," he said.
Water service will be extended in Union Township to Harbor-Pulaski Road. In Mahoning, waterlines will be installed along Matthews Road, U.S. Route 224, the north Edinburg area and Pa. Route 551 from U.S. Routes 224 to 422 and on Route 551, from U.S. Route 422 east to New Castle.
Much needed: The public water service will replace private wells that don't provide enough water or provide poor quality water to homes in those areas, townships officials have said.
Property owners in Mahoning Township will have to pay the township a $750 fee to be allowed to tap into the waterlines.
Mahoning Supervisor Poncho Exposito said the township is paying for a portion of some of the waterlines, but the total township share hasn't been determined yet.
For Union Township property owners, there is no tap-in fee, according to Larry Lambo, Pa.-American Water operation's superintendent.
Homeowners' part: Property owners in both township, however, must also pay a private plumber to hook up the water service to their homes, Lambo said.
Once work is done, the majority of Mahoning Township will be served by public water service. In 2000, the Consumers Ohio Water Company extended its waterlines across the Pennsylvania border into Hillsville along Route 224 from Main Street to Butch Estates.