ALLENTOWN – The Allentown Borough Council has made its first payment to the company that is constructing improvements to the town’s waste water treatment plant on Breza Road.
During a meeting on April 7, council members authorized payment No. 1 to Pact Two, LLC, Ringoes. The payment is for an amount not to exceed $196,000, according to a resolution.
According to the resolution, Pact Two completed work required for intermediate PS reconfiguration/bypass, pre-construction video, filter building demolition, trickling filter demolition, old generator pad demolition, soil erosion and sediment control, electrical demolition of the filter building and control building, and excavation of the Integrated Fixed-film Activated Sludge (IFAS) tank and sludge tank by March 27.
The borough engineer recommended that payment No. 1 be made to Pact Two and the borough’s Sewer Utility Committee supported the recommendation.
In October, council members awarded a $3.95 million contract for the construction of new waste water treatment facilities to Pact Two following several years of discussion and planning.
Municipal officials said the project will result in the construction of upgrades to Allentown’s failing waste water treatment plant. The improvements have been labeled a package plant.
Borough Engineer Carmela Roberts, whose firm, Roberts Engineering Group, Hamilton, designed the upgrades, said that more specifically, new components related to the treatment process would be installed and existing components related to the treatment process would be upgraded at the plant. Additions to the building will also be made.
Roberts previously explained that after waste water that enters the plant has been treated, the resulting clean water will be discharged into Doctors Creek.
On April 14, Allentown officials provided an update on the project. Municipal officials said as of that date, construction debris related to the sand filters, rotating biological contactors and trickling filter had been removed from the construction site.
They said construction workers had removed much of the old and non-functioning electrical components from the filter building and the control building.
Officials said the contractor is in the process of excavating land for the new sludge and IFAS tanks. The contractor anticipates that concrete for the tank foundations will be poured over the next two weeks, according to the update.
The project anticipates an 18-month construction schedule with completion expected in mid-2021, Roberts has said.
Council members authorized the issuance of bonds or notes in the amount of $4.6 million to finance the new waste water treatment infrastructure. Officials said the project is being funded through the New Jersey Infrastructure Bank.
