Infrastructure improvements are crucial for rural communities like Jeannette, whose glass-making history is woven into American heritage, U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small said Wednesday.
“In order for towns to continue thrive, investment is important with infrastructure,” she said.
Two low-interest 40-year loans from the USDA to pay for a $14.3 million flooding containment project are expected to help do just that. The project, being handled by the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County, will address sewage backups in some Jeannette homes, among other issues.
Flooding and sewer backups for years have impacted properties on 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th streets in West Jeannette, according to city officials. Heavy downpours in July 2019 forced sewage and water up through the drains in the basements of some homes and caused appliances and personal items to be destroyed.
That flooding prompted the county authority to formulate a remediation plan under a consent decree signed a decade ago with the state Department of Environmental Protection. Work was ordered to begin no later than 2025.
Torres Small spent a few hours in Westmoreland County chatting with local officials, getting a tour of the Penn Borough plant and listening to details about the project and other concerns. She was joined by U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, who said the improvements will create sustainable and reliable infrastructure that will last.
“Often, communities like this feel left behind, especially out of federal investments,” she said.
The project, expected to take about 18 months, likely will start next year. It is part of a USDA $1.3 billion investment in 116 projects nationwide that authorities said will, in part, make water infrastructure in rural areas better equipped to handle the effects of severe weather and climate change.
MAWC board members in 2019 approved the Jeannette project, and in 2022 the authority signed an agreement with the city to complete the work. But financing delays pushed the start date back.
Sewage ends up in basements when the existing system gets deluged with storm water as creeks rise, said authority consulting engineer Dan Schmitt. Updated catch basins will add valves and regulators to control how much waste and storm water travel through them and in which direction.
The project also calls for sealing of sewer lines to improve structural capability, rerouting a sewer line on Chambers Avenue and separating sewer lines from water lines on Lowry Avenue, Schmitt said.
“It’s very nice to say we want the storm water out of our system, but it has to go somewhere,” he said. “We have to coordinate with the city when it’s obvious we can do that switch.”
Mayor Curtis Antoniak was pleased that Torres Small visited the community and cared about what was happening there.
“I can’t thank you enough for the funding because it’s helping our town immensely,” he said.
Renatta Signorini is a TribLive reporter covering breaking news, crime, courts and Jeannette. She has been working at the Trib since 2005. She can be reached at rsignorini@triblive.com.