North Wales Water Authority details costs, testing and limited grant coverage for proposed Warrington water hookups

At a June 24 town-hall, Bob Bender, executive director of the North Wales Water Authority, told Warrington Township residents the authority believes PFAS contamination in the area stemmed from the former Willow Grove Naval Air Station and described options to extend public water to Bluebell Lane, Argyle Road and Highland Avenue.

"We are a non profit water authority," Bender said, adding that the authority has connected 85 homes in the identified area at no cost, decommissioned roughly 30 contaminated wells and sampled dozens more. He said the Air National Guard paid 100% of work inside a map used by the EPA — described at the meeting as a "magic box" — but would not expand that funding area.

The presentation laid out other funding routes: a redevelopment authority referenced at the meeting (discussed as covering about 80% of project costs) and the Pennsylvania H2O grant program, which can cover different shares depending on state budget allocations. "Myria" was the name used by presenters for the redevelopment authority; meeting remarks did not provide a definitive legal name or citation for that entity.

Officials gave a project estimate of $2.2 million to $2.5 million to install mains and loop the neighborhood. Using the meeting's example of 39 participating houses, that translated to about $59,000 per home without grants. With an 80/20 grant, presenters said, the authority's example would leave homeowners with roughly $11,008 each; a 75/25 or 50/50 PA H2O award would change that share.

Joe Murphy, identified in the meeting as the authority's director of operations, described sampling logistics: the authority will schedule tests (about two weeks to set up), collect water at the source entry point, put samples on ice and send them to a lab with a typical two-week turnaround. Officials said they will pay the $600 sample cost up front and provide results only to homeowners unless disclosure is required by law.

"If we do enough because our findings have been that if we find this house, this house probably has it too," Bender said, explaining why the authority expects four or five positive samples from spread-out locations could allow them to apply for grant funding. He warned, however, that the per-house cost becomes much higher if participation is incomplete. "You need virtually everybody in it," he said.

Officials also described regulatory and compliance timelines. Bender said the authority is already performing some monitoring and consumer confidence reporting ahead of DEP requirements, and noted a meeting reference that initial EPA-mandated monitoring and reporting timelines will require results be published for customers by Dec. 31, 2027.

Residents asked operational questions about whether the per-house estimate accounts for frontage or the length of in-home plumbing. Bender replied the estimate divides the total project cost by participating homes and includes the meter and service to the house entry but does not cover private in-home plumbing from a rear well to the service inlet; homeowners would be responsible for that work.

The meeting closed with the chair asking attendees to sign a sheet so the township can contact other residents; the board moved to adjourn and the motion passed without recorded opposition.

What happens next: officials said they will work with township staff to send materials and coordinate sampling for residents who sign up and that a grant application cycle typically runs with applications in May and approvals around December, with construction — if funded and approved — anticipated to begin in spring 2027.