This article appeared in Hey Johnstown by Judy D J. Ellich, Daily American Staff-Writer.
QUEMAHONING - More than 200 people celebrated Monday at the dedication of the Quemahoning pipeline water system.
County commissioners past and present, engineers, former state Rep. Bob Bastian, and U.S. Reps. John Murtha and Bill Shuster spoke about the eight-and-a-half-year journey to construct the $23.5 million water system. They sat under tents beside the treatment plant off Mastillo Road near Hollsopple.
"Never again will we have to say we can't because of lack of water," said Commissioner Pamela Tokar-Ickes.
Even as she spoke, computers in the treatment plant behind her showed how 1.4 million gallons of water was being routed through the 22-mile pipeline into homes and businesses in several municipalities that have already tapped into the system.
"This day has been a long time in coming," Tokar-Ickes said.
Several of the guests and speakers toured the plant after brunch and the speeches. The public was invited to do the same later in the afternoon.
In his invocation, the Rev. Mark Zimmerman of Somerset Anglican Fellowship said, "Thank you for the gift of water."
On each of the 26 tables under the tent were souvenir bottles of Que water. The bottles were filled from a faucet by a group of young people with Tableland Services. They also slapped stickers on the bottles that read: "Somerset County General Authority, bottled by Somerset County water system: Quemahoning pipeline 2009."
The state Department of Environmental Protection gave permission to bottle the water for this event only, according to Kerri Burtner, county comprehensive plan coordinator.
Several of the speakers credited strong partnerships between private, public, federal, state and local entities for getting the project done.
Murtha and Shuster secured funding for the project in recent years. Murtha was credited with intervening in the 1990s when Bethlehem Steel balked at selling the Quemahoning Reservoir to a public authority. In 2001 Murtha helped secure $6 million for the newly formed Cambria Somerset Authority to fix the breast of the dam and another $5 million to restore the large pipeline running from the reservoir to Johnstown.
Commissioner John Vatavuk was a member of a citizens group that strived to keep the dam public in the 1990s.
"And now the Quemahoning Dam will be open to the public for the rest of our lives," Vatavuk said.
Many speakers said the project was always focused on the future.
"The project from the first day looked out 15, 20, 30, 40, 50 years," said Commissioner Jim Marker.
He talked about how the project was based on a business model. As soon as money was available in 2001 for a feasibility study, county officials immediately went out and tried to sell water.
He pointed out that the massive water project - the largest infrastructure project in the history of Somerset County - was accomplished without a tax increase.
Brad Cober, a former county commissioner and now chairman of the Somerset County General Authority that operates the pipeline, has seen this project from beginning to end.
"What a great day for Somerset County and the future of our county," he said.
The two words that come to mind with this project are "perseverance and patience," he said.
Other phrases used by those at the event included "economic growth" and "absolutely essential."
"It is going to be about providing reliable and safe water," Shuster said. "This is the future of Somerset County and this region. This is a model for across Pennsylvania."
A former representative who helped obtain seed money for the feasibility study, Bastian spoke about the importance of persistence to ensure promises are fulfilled.
Representatives of two Somerset-based engineering firms spoke about the team's long and often difficult journey.
"Passion and guts - it took that level of commitment to get here," said Jon Wahl, project engineer for Somerset Planning & Engineering Services, which did the engineering and planning of the pipeline.
For Sean Isgan, president of CME Engineering, the project meant bolstering the county economy by spending money locally. CME did the engineering work for the plant and pump station and rehabilitated the pipeline under the dam using mostly local workers.
Throughout the morning, thanks were given to an ever-growing list of people who helped bring the project to fruition, from county budget and planning employees to the commissioners, local elected officials, representatives of state and federal agencies, water authority members, contractors and state and federal representatives.
"This has truly been a magnificent project," Murtha said. "Water and sewage - there is nothing more important."
(Judy D.J. Ellich can be contacted at judye@dailyamerican.com. Comment on the online story at dailyamerican.com.)