Cranberry breaks ground on tributary restoration project
CRANBERRY TWP — Stormwater doesn’t respect municipal boundaries, so several local municipalities are coming together on a number of projects to make sure residents and their property are safe from severe weather conditions.
One of the projects, a tributary stabilization stream restoration project in Cranberry Township is underway thanks to the cooperation of officials throughout the county.
“One of the greatest aspects of the entire project was being able to share the message that political entities can work together and succeed,” said Mike Manipole, chairman of the Cranberry board of supervisors. “Everyone thinks politics just jam things up and I think we were able so show that when we work together we can accomplish a lot of great things for our residents.”
On Thursday, March 21, officials from Cranberry Township and the county broke ground on the first phase of the restoration project that will remove 320,000 pounds of sediment from a nearly 7,000-foot stretch of the creek that runs through the area.
Over time the tributary’s flow has been inefficient, due to natural occurring events, such as natural waste making its way into the river. The goal of the project, which started earlier this month, is to reduce the sediment in the creek to allow the water to flow in its intended path.
“By restoring the stream flow channel and the stream banks, and stabilizing them and establishing that clear flood plain, it allows the water to flow more efficiently through the watershed,” Michael Malk, director of engineering project for Cranberry Township said. “Therefore it reduces backups and flooding in adjacent areas.”
Malek said restoring the stream will also eliminate the loss of sediment though the watershed, something that can also cause flooding.
Restoring the water flow will not eliminate the flooding, according to Malke, but it will greatly reduce the effect of flooding in the area.
“Nature will always throw something at you that you just can’t handle,” Malke said. “When you’re talking volume of water, a stream watershed can only handle so much volume so when you get these extreme weather events you will still have impacts but those impacts should be greatly reduced by the work we’re doing.”
The project was set in motion largely due to a $664,000 grant from the Butler County Municipal infrastructure program. That money was made available due to the effort of the Butler Southwest Stormwater Planning group.
Cranberry, along with Harmony, Jackson Township, Evans City and Zeliniople make up the Butler Southwest Stormwater Planning Group, an organization is designed to bring municipality together to work and fund projects that will help the areas.
The group was able to come up with a plan for Cranberry for the project, which according to Leslie Osche, chairwoman of the county commission, plays a pivotal role when it comes to providing funds for projects.
“Funding is limited all over the place and being able to collaborate like this allows us to leverage dollars across multiple funding opportunities to get projects done,” Osche said.
She also contributed Cranberry’s ability to get funding for the project so efficiently was due to the fact the township had set forth a plan before the funds became available from the state.
“I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to have plans put together and projects ready, so that when funding becomes available the municipalities can apply for it,” she said.
Dan Santoro, Cranberry Township manger, said working with other municipalities on the plan allowed local leaders to share ideas and experience and help navigate avenues of revenue.
“You always get more done when you collaborate and cooperate” Sanotro said. “While we all represent our own municipalities, municipal lines are just invisible lines on a map.”
