CRANBERRY TWP — When water goes down the drain in the thousands of homes and businesses in the township, it heads toward Powell Road.

The Brush Creek Pollution Control Facility there, near the Pennsylvania Turnpike overpass, handles about 3.4 million gallons of wastewater each day.

“You flush the toilet and you don’t think about where it goes until you come to a place like this and see,” supervisor Bruce Hezlep said during a recent tour of the facility.

As the facility and the equipment have gotten older and as the township population has continued to grow, it was time for a serious upgrade.

Earlier this year, the township supervisors approved $48.8 million in contracts for a variety of upgrades and expansions to the facility. Work has already begun and is expected to be done by the summer of 2019.

Residents won’t notice any difference in their service during and after the work, but it is still vital to improve technology, meet new environmental protection standards and add capacity, said Jerry Andree, township manager.

In addition to the 12 township operators who will remain working at the site, there will be as many as 80 construction workers there during some parts of the three-year project, said Tim Schutzman, project manager and township waterworks coordinator.

Contractors and township officials have frequent meetings to coordinate efforts to make sure that the facility continues to operate while renovations are going on. One of the facility’s three large bioreactor tanks was empty this week for renovations, but the plant operators may still need to use it if there is rainy weather.

“If need be, they can take the equipment out of here in a hurry,” Schutzman said.

The effluent pump station, currently located near Brush Creek within the flood plain, is being replaced. The old building was prone to flooding, which created challenges for the facility, while the new building will be on higher ground, Schutzman said. That construction is expected to take two years. The old building will not be torn down until the new one is operational.

Construction of a new fine screen building is also under way. The fine screen removes hair from the wastewater.

“What they pull out here is critical to protect the membranes down the path,” he said.

A new membrane building will also be built, which is the system through which the wastewater is disinfected and filtered before it can be discharged into the creek.

Other additions at the facility include, female restrooms and locker room, six fire hydrants and a wider entrance to more safely accommodate large trucks.

When complete, the facility’s hydraulic capacity will increase from 4.5 million gallons per day to 8.73 million gallons per day.

The Brush Creek facility serves most of the residents of the township and some residents in Bradford Woods and Pine, New Sewickley and Marshall townships. Marshall will contribute a percentage to the project based on its usage.

Last July, the Cranberry supervisors approved a $32 million bond to pay for the project. They also increased the sewer rates from $7.16 to $7.98 per thousand gallons of water. This costs the average ratepayer $4.10 more per month.

Township officials have been tracking growth and anticipating the need for this project, which will also have a second phase sometime in the future, for about 15 years Andree said.

“Our board really values planning so this was carefully planned for and laid out,” he said.

The township will have to look at financing options to cover the final $10.1 million of this project, Andree said.

Property owners in the township are not required to tap into the sewer system and some older homes are still on septic systems. However, nearly every new housing development in recent years has chosen to tie into the system.

The township has an Act 537 plan that shows that it has the capability to connect to users on every property in the township, Andree said.