The state is pushing Farrell to upgrade its Kieffer Road sanitary sewer pumping station.

While that is not a surprise, the tight timeline in which the city has to come up with a plan is.

"We've expected that we're probably going to have to do something," said City Manager LaVon Saternow. "We didn't expect it this quickly."

The city has 90 days to come up with a plan to upgrade the pump station. Council responded Monday by hiring Gannett Fleming Inc., Pittsburgh, to come up with what is known as a corrective action plan.

The state Department of Environmental Protection wants to eliminate overflow from the pump station, Mrs. Saternow said.

In times of heavy rain, storm water pushes the sanitary sewer pumping station past its capacity and some water overflows directly into the Shenango River.

The pump station and its equipment are 30 years old, while the useful life of the equipment was expected to be only 20 years, said Dan Goncz of Gannett Fleming, the city's sanitary sewer consultant.

Mrs. Saternow said she's not sure why the state is pressing the city to act now, as the overflow has been noted in city records for years.

"They never let up," said Councilwoman Helen Marenchin. "It's always something."

Mrs. Saternow said the state was lenient with the city in giving it time to get through financial problems in the wake of the Sharon Steel Corp.'s two bankruptcies before ordering a renovation and expansion of the wastewater treatment plant on Broadway, which was completed in 1999. Goncz said the study, which will cost the city $3,000, will provide a cost estimate for the work. He said he expects it to be about $200,000.

Mrs. Saternow said the city will go to the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority, known as Pennvest, for funding. Pennvest could provide a grant or a low-interest loan.

After the plan is done, the state will decide whether to accept or reject it, and could set a time table for work to be done, Mrs. Saternow said.

Earlier this year, the city had a leaking main line into the station replaced at a cost of about $34,000.