Aqua Pennsylvania to Re-Dedicate 117-Year-Old Delaware County Water Treatment Plant after $33 Million Investment

Aqua Pennsylvania management will be joined by various officials at 5 p.m. today to re-dedicate its Crum Creek water treatment plant, 965 Beatty Road in Springfield Township, Delaware County, where the company has invested more than $33 million over the past five years for a complete rehabilitation of the facility. The original plant was built in 1892. The 117-year-old facility now produces an average of 18 to 20 million gallons of water per day to serve residents of 23 municipalities in Delaware County.

Aqua America Chairman & CEO Nicholas DeBenedictis and Aqua Pennsylvania President Karl Kyriss will be joined by State Representative Greg Vitali, Delaware County Councilman Thomas McGarrigle, Delaware County Executive Director Marianne Grace, Springfield Township Commissioner Dan Lanciano, Springfield Township Manager Michael LeFevre, and others, for a ceremonial "pipe cutting” to celebrate more than $33 million in water quality improvements and infrastructure rehabilitation at the Crum Creek water treatment plant.

"The improvements that we’ve made at Crum Creek have significantly enhanced water quality,” explained Kyriss. "Prior to these improvements, water entering the filter beds had a turbidity (cloudiness) measure of 2. Today, water entering the filters has a turbidity of less than 0.5. The fact that the pre-filtered water today is ‘cleaner’ means less load on the filters and improved water quality after filtration, which adds to plant filters’ useful life.”

He added that "While we’ve always met or outperformed the water quality regulatory standards, the result of these improvements is the increased efficiency with which we can continue to operate in the future. One example is the improved efficiency of our new pumps, which we expect to provide an estimated energy savings of approximately one million kilowatt hours a year.”

Among the improvements made to the plant are:

• Upgraded filters
• New filter backwash system
• New sedimentation basin (plate settlers)
• Replacement of raw water pumps (pumps untreated water into the plant)
• Replacement of high service pumps (pumps potable water into the distribution system)
• Increased on-site treated water storage from one half million gallons to 2 million gallons

"Aqua was able to fund the entire project with a combination of tax-exempt funds and low interest loans, including $12 million of PENNVEST loans,” said DeBenedictis. "Aqua’s ability to access money at low rates is a reflection of the company’s A+ S&P corporate credit rating, which improves our ability to economically expand our infrastructure rebuilding program.” Aqua’s total 2009 capital program for Delaware County includes $42 million of improvements.

Aqua Pennsylvania serves approximately 1.4 million residents in 30 counties throughout Pennsylvania with more than one million in southeastern Pennsylvania.

WTRG