Pennsylvania American invests in local water plant
OAKLAND TWP — The $13 million in upgrades to the Pennsylvania American Water plant that spans 8 acres in Oakland, Summit and Butler townships on Oneida Valley Road were on display Thursday afternoon, when a group of employees explained the improved features to people invited to tour the plant.
Jon Natale, senior manager of operations for northwest Pennsylvania, said a huge generator, electrical upgrades and other components to support the garage-sized generator, a chemical storage room, an environmentally safe bulk chemical delivery area, and a filter-to-waste system were among the upgrades.
The larger generator was placed along Route 38 at the plant about six months ago.
The generator can power both the treatment and distribution of water up to the plant’s capacity of 7.6 million gallons per day or instantaneous capacity of 10 million gallons per day in the event of a large water main break or multiple fires.
The generator kicks on automatically in the event of an electrical outage.
The gasoline and diesel fuel generators used before could handle treatment and distribution as well, but not at the same capacity, Natale said.
He explained the plant operations, in all sectors, aims to provide steady, consistent water service to customers without disruptions or spikes and valleys in certain departments.
The chemical storage room contains large tanks of sodium hydroxiderm, multiple pumps, and the new automated system engineers use to run the plant.
Natale said with the older technology, workers manually adjusted certain systems at the plant — now, it’s all computerized.
“It’s more of autopilot, where we tell the system what we want and it will adjust,” he said.
The room is built into the ground, so if the tanks leak, the concrete wall surrounding the tanks would contain the spill, as required by regulation.
Natale said the sodium hydroxiderm is more expensive than lime, but is used at the Butler plant because it produces less waste.
The room beside the chemical storage room contains two huge tanks of anticoagulant, which is added to the water to force the solids to drop to the bottom and combines positive and negative charges in the water so particles are removed from the water will not float.
The tanks have been used at the plant since 1972, said Jed Fiscus, Pennsylvania American’s engineering manager for the northwest.
The bulk chemical delivery area saw construction workers finishing up a long rectangular concrete pit that tankers park on when arriving with chemical deliveries.
Before the improvement project, the plant used portable containment units.
Natale and Fiscus showed off the “modified aldrich units,” where water enters the plant from pipes from the nearby Oneida and Thorn Run dams.
The brown water gurgles in the center of a huge round tank, while the clear water on the outside demonstrates the effect of the anticoagulant, sodium hydroxiderm and new filters.
Three of the units treat the water before it is sent to one of two washwater tanks, which hold water from the filtering process.
Fiscus said 100,000 gallons of water per day is returned to the processing plant to go through the whole process again.
The solids that drop off the water are sent to the Butler Area Sewer Authority plant in Butler.
He said about 1 mile of 30-inch pipe moves the water through the plant, underground to the various processing steps.
State Rep. Marci Mustello, R-11, was impressed with the tour.
“These men and women are doing a heck of a job keeping our drinking water safe and clean,” she said. “The improvements they made are only going to help the community.”
Jordan Grady, executive director of the Butler County Chamber of Commerce, also was impressed to see how the water to Butler’s businesses is processed.
“I’m kind of blown away to see the complex nature of processing and the continued investment required to stay up with regulations and ensure safe water,” Grady said.
He praised the knowledgeable staff, as well.
“These are highly specialized skills,” Grady said.
He deemed the $13 million improvement project, which started in mid-2020 and is now wrapping up, a great expenditure.
“We should feel fortunate that we have a company like Pennsylvania American that makes those investments,” Grady said.
Gary Lobaugh, Pennsylvania American spokesman, said the Butler water plant has reinvested in itself for the past 20 years.
“We want to be in compliance with all current and future water quality regulations,” he said.
