Pennsylvania awards $190.3 million for water projects
By Staff Writer · Published 10/21/2026, 3:06:10 PM ET
PENNVEST funding covers 24 projects in 19 counties, including contaminant treatment, service-line replacements and sewer repairs. Some awards must be repaid.
Gov. Josh Shapiro's administration announced $190.3 million in financing on Oct. 21 for 24 water, sewer and agricultural runoff projects in 19 Pennsylvania counties. The PENNVEST awards include grants and loans for local governments, utilities, conservation districts and a school district, with work ranging from treatment equipment to replacement pipes.
The announcement identifies projects selected for funding; it does not establish that construction is finished or that the promised water-quality improvements have occurred. It also leaves construction schedules and effects on customer bills unspecified. Those details remain important for residents served by the named systems.
Several drinking-water awards target PFAS, a group of chemicals that includes PFOA and PFOS. The state says the affected drinking-water entry points exceed federal limits for those two contaminants. Buckingham Township in Bucks County received a $3.12 million grant for treatment at its Cold Spring booster station, while Aqua Pennsylvania received $2.546 million for treatment and connecting pipe at two Chester County wells.
Lakeland School District in Lackawanna County received a $352,000 grant for treatment serving about 1,000 students and faculty at its junior and senior high schools. Another $1.72 million grant will support PFAS treatment at Aqua Pennsylvania's Turnbury Well 11 station in Montgomery County. These are planned treatment projects, rather than confirmation that the systems have already resolved the contamination.
Other awards address service lines containing lead or galvanized pipe affected by earlier lead components. Erie City Water Authority received a $10 million grant to replace about 1,250 private-side galvanized service connections. The release says the authority had previously removed public-side lead components and will now address the remaining downstream connections.
The Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County received a combined $10 million in grants and loans for about 1,000 residential lead service lines across seven municipalities. In Norristown, Pennsylvania-American Water Company received roughly $4.65 million in grants and loans for lead and affected galvanized service-line replacements. Blairsville Municipal Authority received $2.595 million in mixed funding for about 122 connections in Blairsville and Burrell Township.
The largest individual award listed is a $38 million loan to Pennsylvania-American Water Company for stormwater storage associated with the former Scranton Sewer Authority system. Two planned facilities, holding 400,000 gallons and 2 million gallons, are intended to reduce combined sewer overflows. The announcement does not specify how many overflows the work would prevent.
Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority received a $13.6 million loan to replace about 600 catch basins. Somerset borough's municipal authority received a $13 million grant for sewer work that includes about 22,000 feet of main line and 132 manholes. The state describes the Somerset work as another phase of a continuing effort to reduce water entering sewers and contributing to downstream overflows.
The package also supports farm runoff controls. Luzerne Conservation District received $2.028 million for two Columbia County farm sites, and Huntingdon County Conservation District received $2.2 million for work at Way-Lynn Farm. The release projects reductions in nutrients and sediment; those figures are estimates of future effects, not measured results from completed construction.
Funding comes from several sources, including state funds, federal water programs, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and repayments of earlier PENNVEST loans. For specified federally funded projects, the state says an award described as a grant can be a loan whose principal is forgiven and therefore does not require repayment. Ordinary loans remain a different financing commitment.
What it means
The awards direct financing to particular infrastructure projects, with different consequences for each service area. They support treatment, pipe replacement and overflow controls, but the release does not promise an immediate change in water service or customer rates. Residents can identify their utility or municipality in the full project list; local construction notices and financing decisions will be needed to establish when work reaches their neighborhood and what costs remain locally.
Source
This State & Nation summary is based on Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development’s original release, dated 2026-10-21. The reporting and statistics above are attributed to that publication.