Economic Development

News & Events

January 11, 2002

CHESTER COUNTY AWARDED $2 MILLION FOR SEWER PROJECTS

More than $2 million from the state's 1998 tobacco settlement money has been awarded to help pay the major costs of two large sewer projects in Chester County.

The largest of the two awards is roughly $2 million for a sewer line extension project from the town of Great Falls up S.C. 99 toward S.C. 9 in the Bascomville area.

County Supervisor Johnny Weir said the money will permit the county to do "exactly what we needed to do to boost the infrastructure" in this part of the county.

This area already has other infrastructure in place, including water and fiber optic capacities, Weir said. He suggested that team work helped make this proposed project a success.

"This shows what we are able to achieve when we work together," Weir said.

The project will take advantage of the excess capacity the W.C. Childers Wastewater Facility has. This facility was left with approximately 1 million gallons in excess treatment capacity per day when the three J.P. Stevens plants in Great Falls closed in 1981.

Weir and other officials, including Great Falls Mayor H.C. "Speedy" Starnes and County Councilman Archie Lucas of Great Falls, call this the "first phase" of a longer-range project that aims to extend the sewer lines to S.C. 9.

"We feel like this will open up the eastern side of Chester County for more development," Starnes said. "We're just tickled pink that we were able to get a part of it."

Starnes said he hopes extending the sewer lines along S.C. 99 will lead to more economic development, more jobs for residents in Great Falls and more revenues for the town.

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