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:
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.