Who We Are
Bear Valley, Franklin County, Pennsylvania Joint Authority was created in 1965 by Hamilton, St. Thomas and Peters Townships. We are governed by a 9-member Board of Directors, with 3 representatives assigned by each township to 5-year terms.
The system originally had 1,400 connections but has grown to over 4,300 connections due to area development and the absorption of some smaller private water systems in need of assistance.
Bear Valley is a municipal authority and is not a for-profit water system. The rates charged are only those needed to cover the operation, maintenance and improvement of the system.
The original Broad Run Water Treatment Facility was a conventional filtration system built off Bear Valley Road in Fort Loudon, PA. It came online in 1971. It draws surface water from the Broad Run and from a well near Route 75. It was upgraded to a membrane filtration system in 2006 and is still in operation.
The Fort Loudoun Water Treatment Facility is a modern membrane filtration system. It came online in 2018 and is built near the historic Fort Loudoun grounds in Fort Loudon, PA. It is connected to the Fort Wellfield and the Widow Barr Wellfield.
The water distribution system contains over 120 miles of mains. There are 5 above-ground storage tanks located in Fort Loudon, St. Thomas, Upton, Warm Springs Rd and Kensington Heights.
These tanks provide constant pressure to the system and contain over 5 days of backup storage. There are no known lead service lines in the system.
