| Contact: | Kevin Evanto, County
(412) 350-3171 office
(412) 352-4075 cell |
Work to focus on projects identified as critical by the EPA
PITTSBURGH — Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato today announced $4.4 million in funding for 15 municipalities to make sewer system repairs identified as critical by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The funding comes from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant-Recovery Program, part of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009.
“This stimulus funding is allowing us to repair critically damaged parts of the regional sewer system and protect our rivers and streams,” said Onorato. “Thanks to the funding, we are also creating or retaining more than 200 construction-related jobs in these tough economic times. This program will put people to work, repair vital infrastructure, reduce pollution, protect the environment, and facilitate economic growth.”
The funds will be used to repair collapsed, defective or clogged sewers, as well as those that have significant stormwater inflow and infiltration. The repairs will help to eliminate sewage overflows into local rivers and streams during rain events and storms, thereby ensuring long-term compliance with the federal Clean Water Act.
The 15 projects were identified as areas in need of critical repair by comprehensive sewer televising, an effort to locate significant deficiencies in sewer systems. All of the selected projects had been previously submitted to the Allegheny County Department of Economic Development for funding. The projects had also been recommended by 3 Rivers Wet Weather due to their benefits relative to the EPA’s consent decree with the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) to upgrade the sewage systems serving 83 municipalities.
There are no Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection permitting requirements, therefore the projects can be engineered and put out for bid quickly.
The following municipalities and projects will receive funding:
Municipality | Project | Grant
Amount |
Blawnox | Repairs to existing sanitary sewers and deteriorated manholes | $225,000 |
Brackenridge | Repairs to existing sanitary sewers and deteriorated manholes | $225,000 |
Braddock | Repairs and construction of access manholes | $250,000 |
East McKeesport | Repairs to existing sanitary sewers | $180,000 |
Elizabeth Borough | Construction and pipe relining involving sanitary/storm sewer separation and catch basins | $353,205 |
Homestead | Repairs to existing sanitary sewers and deteriorated manholes | $157,320 |
McKees Rocks | Repairs to existing sanitary sewers and deteriorated manholes | $225,000 |
Mt. Oliver | Repairs to deteriorated sanitary sewer manholes | $225,000 |
North Braddock | Repairs to existing sanitary sewers and deteriorated manholes | $414,000 |
Rankin | Repairs to a 90-year-old sanitary sewer along Fifth Avenue | $250,000 |
Sharpsburg | Repairs to existing sanitary sewers, deteriorated manholes, catch basins and inlets | $125,000 |
Swissvale | Repairs to existing sanitary sewers | $369,194 |
Wall | Repairs to existing sanitary sewers and deteriorated manholes | $78,000 |
Wilkinsburg | Installation and repairs to sanitary sewers, storm sewers, manholes, inlets and catch basins | $328,680 |
Wilmerding | Repairs to existing sanitary sewers and deteriorated manholes | $341,600 |
Fifteen percent of the total funding will be placed in a Public Improvements Working Fund for project contingency and administration.
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The Allegheny County Health Department and Allegheny County Sanitary Authority created 3 Rivers Wet Weather in 1998 to help the 83 ALCOSAN municipalities address the region’s aging and deteriorating sewer infrastructure and to meet the requirements of the federal Clean Water Act. For additional information, visit www.3riverswetweather.org.
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