Newtown looking to build waste water treatment facility

A 17.5-acre tract in Newtown Township once considered for construction of a 245-unit luxury apartment complex appears it might instead be the site for a new wastewater treatment plant.

The Newtown, Bucks County Joint Municipal Authority recently (the Authority) acquired the parcel between Newtown Bypass and Lower Silver Lake Road to build what would be the Authority’s first plant for its Newtown Township and Newtown Borough customers.

In a letter to customers, the Authority said it was “actively pursuing” establishment of a plant that would be a modern, state-of-the-are facility virtually unseen from the Bypass.

“The Authority is confident that a brand-new, state-of-the-art plant could be built to better serve our customers’ needs in the long term,” it said in the letter. “Our current operating structure puts our Authority – and our customers — at the mercy of uncontrolled sewer rate increases levied by Bucks County Sewer and Water Authority and the City of Philadelphia.”

The tract in late 2021 was where New Jersey-based KRE Group and DeLuca Homes proposed a multi-family residential building in what is the township’s office research zone.

The Authority in 1988 closed its wastewater treatment plant and became a Bucks County Water and Sewer Authority customer. The Authority serves 9,000 sanitary sewer customers in Newtown Township and Newtown Borough with a system of 101 miles of gravity sewers.

The Authority said its decision to go after the open parcel was based in part on Bucks County Water and Sewer Authority’s decision in 2022 to consider selling its plant for $1.1 billion to Aqua Pennsylvania. The effort, however, never materialized.

As a wholesale customers of Bucks County Water and Sewer, the Authority must contribute shared costs, it said.

“Our board realized that unless we took steps to become independent of Bucks Water and Sewer, we would be subject to their decision and rate hikes, subjecting our customers to higher expenses that we could not control.”