Butler County was awarded more than $2.6 million in infrastructure grants Tuesday, Dec. 19, from the Commonwealth Financing Authority.

The agency's awards included just under $2.3 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to Cranberry and Jackson townships to “assist with the construction of drinking water, sanitary sewer and stormwater projects.”

Cranberry Township received $1.75 million for the Brush Creek Treatment Plant project, upgrading the solids-side of the township’s wastewater facility.

“It’s a pretty significant project — it’s the next phase of improvements that we need to make up there,” Cranberry Township manager Dan Santoro said.

The estimated $30 million cost for the project is further offset by $5 million in federal Community Project Funding received in January, according to Santoro, with design for the project nearing completion.

Jackson Township received $500,000 for a water line extension project along the Franklin Road corridor.

The state financial authority also awarded $375,000 in ARPA funds to Cranberry Township and Zelienople to support “small water and sewer programs” in the county.

Cranberry Township received $272,565 for a water line project along Burke Road.

“The Burke Road water line project completes a ‘looping’ project for us in the eastern portion of the township,” Santoro said. “With waterlines, you try and loop the connections so that you have redundancy.”

In case of a break in one part of the water line, Santoro said the loop would allow the township to “backfeed” water from a different area. The project is estimated to cost $500,000.

“We’ve been working on a design,” Santoro said. “It’s been on the capital plan for some time, and we’ve been trying to secure funding through grants — and we’ve finally been successful with this one.”

Zelienople received $100,000 for a water line project on Market Street.

“We want to thank state Rep. Stephenie Scialabba’s office and state Sen. Elder Vogel’s office for their support,” Santoro said. “They helped support those grants.”