BUTLER TWP — A significant sewer leak in Butler Township was swiftly dealt with by Butler Area Sewer Authority crews a few months ago.

Duane McKee, authority director, said at Tuesday’s board meeting that a 16-inch force mainline that is 300 to 400 feet from the Deshon pump station broke Feb. 15, sending sewage spilling down a bank.

He said while there is no way of knowing how much sewage was released from the broken pipe, crews managed to contain 7 million gallons from entering a nearby stream.

McKee said authority crews cleaned up the area as much as possible.

A crew from the state Department of Environmental Protection stopped at the site and said they were pleased with the authority’s response to the issue, McKee said.

Also at the meeting, board directors voted to approve a three-year contract with Butler County Community College for the college to continue using a shooting range on the western end of the authority’s property.

Mike Hnath, authority solicitor, said Pennsylvania American Water, which is in the process of buying the authority, is in favor of the contract.

Hnath said Butler City Council did not sign the agreement after a decade of using the shooting range for the city’s police officers because it did not approve of the indemnity language in the contract.

The board also approved a bid to replace a faulty maintenance cover on Fairlane Drive in the Meadowood neighborhood with two new maintenance covers.

Evan Oswald, superintendent of engineering services for the authority, said the maintenance cover was not installed according to authority requirements and is a continual maintenance issue.

The $49,265 winning bid was submitted by Roto-Rooter of Murrysville, Westmoreland County.

Six bids were submitted for the project.

McKee said work will begin in one month and will take a few weeks to complete.

The board also approved spending more than $73,000 for sewer line relocation and other work at the site of the Karns Crossing bridge project.

McKee said the amount represents the 25% the authority must pay to relocate the sewer lines when the bridge near the intersection of routes 422 and 38 is replaced.

The state will pay 75%, he said.

The project would replace the 12-span bridge that crosses Connoquenessing Creek, the Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad, and the Buffalo and Pittsburgh Railroad.