Liberty Area Municipal Authority, Tioga County
COMPLETED: 2007
This project installed wastewater collection and conveyance piping from 240 Equivalent Dwelling Units (EDU’s) including 20 businesses and two schools in Liberty Borough and Liberty Township to a new wastewater treatment facility. The public sewer was needed to replace “wildcat” sewers and failing septic systems.
The Act 537 Plan compared a conventional gravity sewer, with 8-inch mains to a variable-grade septic tank effluent sewer using 3 and 4-inch mains and a combination of the two. The sloping terrain allows nearly the entire community to be served by gravity, which always offers the lowest operating costs. A few isolated properties have septic tank effluent pumps.
A septic tank effluent collection system serves the community. This variable-grade sewer includes 110 septic tanks, 44,000 feet of 3 and 4-inch gravity collectors plus laterals. The WWTF features a 75,000-gpd recirculating sand filter. Biological Nitrification was provided to meet a seasonal ammonia limit on discharges into Blockhouse Creek, a cold-water fishery and stocked trout stream. A 670-gpm pump station recirculates the filter effluent five times, providing tertiary treatment. Ultraviolet light disinfects the treatment plant effluent.
Work included a 537 Plan Update, design, environmental permitting, bidding, and construction phase engineering including operations phase assistance. Approximately 150 easements were obtained and two parcels were subdivided and purchased for the treatment facility.
Funding: PENNVEST grant and loan funding; Safe Water and Growing Greener II, and CDBG Funds
The total construction cost was well below the budget.
Permits Obtained: Chapter 102 (Construction NPDES), Chapter 105 (Waterway Encroachment), Water Quality Management Part II
