Bear Valley Water Authority has been approved for a $22.25 million low-interest loan to overhaul its water distribution system, a Franklin County utility project that will tear out roughly 43,000 feet of aging pipe and add new pumping capacity across the region. The money comes from the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority, known as PENNVEST, which approved the loan for Phase II of the authority's long-running upgrade plan.
According to fcfreepresspa.com, the project includes construction of a membrane filtration skid, a neutralization system and a finished-water pump, along with replacement of two pumps to boost capacity. State Senator Doug Mastriano, who represents the 33rd District, announced the award and said reliable drinking water is a necessity for families, farms and businesses, according to Tri-State Alert. Mastriano also said the investment will modernize aging infrastructure, reduce water losses and help ensure water resources for local communities, per the same outlet.
Thousands of Feet of Pipe Coming Out of the Ground
The bulk of the physical work centers on the distribution network itself. The project will replace approximately 43,000 feet of water-main distribution piping, per fcfreepresspa.com's reporting, and that piping is being swapped for larger-diameter pipe, according to publicopiniononline.com. Mastriano framed the upgrade as a matter of keeping pace with growth, saying Franklin County infrastructure must meet current and future demand, per Tri-State Alert.
The newspaper's account also notes that PENNVEST provides low-interest loans and grants for projects addressing water, wastewater, stormwater and non-point-source pollution issues statewide. Bear Valley serves residents and businesses in Hamilton, St. Thomas, Peters and portions of Letterkenny townships, according to Tri-State Alert, and the authority itself describes its reach as having grown to more than 4,300 connections across over 120 miles of water mains, per Bear Valley Water Authority.
Part of a Bigger Push to Cut Reliance on Purchased Water
Bear Valley has leaned on an outside supplier for years. The Borough of Chambersburg supplies about half of the water to the system under a long-standing arrangement, according to Bear Valley Water Authority's own water-quality page. Tri-State Alert reports the new project is intended to reduce that dependence on water purchased from a neighboring borough, alongside broader goals of cutting water loss and expanding pumping capacity.
The authority's own project documentation lays out where that capacity is headed. Bear Valley Water Authority says the Phase II work is meant to improve water transmission capacity from the western side of the system to the eastern side along the Route 30 trunk line, and the authority separately lists plans to improve water pressure in the higher elevations of Hamilton Township, including the Warm Spring Road, Kensington and Hamilton Hills areas, where older mains have been prone to leaks.
Building on Years of State-Backed Investment
This isn't Bear Valley's first trip to PENNVEST. The authority received an $8.5 million PENNVEST loan in January 2023, according to Tri-State Alert's earlier coverage, for a project that installed three drinking-water wells in Peters Township and established an interconnection with the Fort Loudoun Water Treatment Facility. That 2023 round of state funding was part of a larger $236 million package for 25 drinking-water, wastewater and stormwater projects across 17 counties, the outlet reported at the time.
More recently, Mastriano announced nearly $7.7 million in state funding for two other Franklin County water and sewer projects in July, according to a statement from the senator's office. That package included a grant of more than $1.7 million and a low-interest loan of nearly $1.7 million for Quincy Township to connect two local water systems with a new main, plus a grant of nearly $4.3 million for Shippensburg Borough Authority to improve biosolids processing.
A System Already Running Close to Capacity
The push for more pumping capacity reflects tight margins in daily output. Bear Valley's system produces approximately one million gallons per day, while average daily use has been reported at 1.2 million gallons per day, according to the senator's office. Separately, Bear Valley Water Authority lists a Phase III upgrade at its Fort Loudoun Water Treatment Facility designed to double that facility's production capacity from one to two million gallons per day.
Bear Valley describes itself as a municipal authority rather than a for-profit water system, and the utility states there are no known lead service lines in its system. The authority also reports that its Fort Loudoun plant won a 2025 AWOP Award for treatment plant performance for the second consecutive year, a distinction it highlights on its water-quality page.
