Army Corps project targets creek bank

They will use rocks to secure 1,400 feet of sewer pipe along the banks.

By LAURE CIOFFI

VINDICATOR PENNSYLVANIA BUREAU

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — Neshannock Creek will get some much needed help this fall.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced a $1.4 million stream bank protection project that will help stop erosion into the creek and address problems that could lead to sewage getting into the water.

“The project’s purpose is to provide a clean environment. It sends the message that the Army Corps is very concerned about the environment,” said Col. Stephen Hill, district engineer for the corps Pittsburgh office.

Work is expected to start in the fall and will take about a year.

The project is expected to eliminate the risk of the release of raw sewage into the stream, which would result if a sewer line were to fail because of erosion under sewer lines, according to the corps.

They plan to place rock around the sewer and plant erosion-resistant plants on the banks.

The project involves securing 1,400 feet of the sewer line from Rural Avenue to South Mill Street.

An important project

Erosion is high in the area because the protective covering over the sewer is gone and in some spots the sewer has lost its support underneath, according to the corps. The 24-inch tongue-in-groove concrete pipe sewer, constructed in the mid-1950s, takes sewage from the Neshannock Creek sewer shed to the Shenango River truck sewer and ultimately to the New Castle sewage treatment plant.

The creek is a major contributor to the Shenango River Basin, which is a tributary to the Beaver River.

The federal government is paying 65 percent of the cost and the rest is coming from the city, which has money from the sale of bonds.

City Business Administrator Tammy Gibson said the city is also talking to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection about contributing to the project.

Hill said getting the local funding match is the most difficult part of the process and it often stops projects such as this one.

“It’s a very small number that get to this level of success,” he said.

cioffi@vindy.com