• Overview of the Problem
• Understanding the Sewer Collection System
  • History
  • How the Sewer System Works
  • Inflow, Infiltration and Overflows
• Stormwater
  • Stormwater Permits
  • MS4 Permittees
• Progress on the Issue
• A Regional Approach
• FAQs
• Abbreviations & Glossary
• Regulatory Update
  • Federal
  • State
  • Local

PROGRESS ON THE ISSUE

Over the last several years, communities have made significant progress in working toward a long-term viable solution for the wet weather issue. Some highlights include:

• 3 Rivers Wet Weather has awarded more than $6.8 million to communities over the last four years to help fund 33 innovative sewer projects that can become models for other municipalities and regions. Many of these projects involve multiple communities collaborating to solve the wet weather issue.
• In January 2001, 3 Rivers Wet Weather formed the Eastern, Northern and Southern Basin Groups comprising local elected officials from all 83 ALCOSAN communities and representatives from 13 municipal authorities and eight councils of government. The groups meet monthly to learn about new regulations, share information, such as sewer rates and resources for sewer rehabilitation, and plan regional strategies.
• Because the basin groups demonstrated their commitment to fixing the sewage overflow problem and consistently communicated with the EPA, the regulatory agency, in October 2001, chose to address the basin groups of educated officials as a more efficient and effective method of communication than approaching each individual municipality with an administrative consent order to begin the work of complying with the Clean Water Act.
• ALCOSAN communities received a draft administrative consent order (ACO) from the EPA in February 2002, outlining assessment, televising and flow monitoring activities in order for the communities to begin complying with the Clean Water Act. The EPA chose a non-traditional enforcement approach by not charging penalties for past sewer overflow violations.
• In response to the draft ACO distributed by the EPA, the basin groups began a consensus-building process, which included the creation of Solicitors and Engineers' Working Groups. These two working groups met over 50 times and involved more than 100 individuals in the development of a "municipal consensus response" document for the ACOs, which was submitted to the EPA and local enforcement agencies (Allegheny County Health Department and PA DEP) in August 2002.
• Many ALCOSAN communities have already begun assessing, televising and repairing their sewage collection systems. Some municipalities have also begun dye testing homes to determine if roof and driveway drains are improperly connected to the sewage collection system.
• ALCOSAN communities have cooperated on an integrated Geographic Information System (GIS) project, which involved converting paper maps to a digital GIS format and incorporating the previous mapping activities of municipalities to produce an integrated map of more than 4,000 sewer lines throughout 83 communities. The second phase of the project will involve adding more data to the GIS database, including manhole locations, the size and current condition of sewer pipes and other critical information.
• The wet weather issue has become a priority for the region's state and federal legislators. Federal funding totals $17 million to date and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania recently awarded a $2 million grant to 3RWW to help municipalities address the issue.
• In 1997, ALCOSAN embarked on a $400 million capital improvements program to increase treatment capacity to 275 million gallons a day of wastewater during dry weather, to develop a plan to address federal wet weather regulatory requirements and to eliminate odors to a non-detectable level in the neighboring community of Brighton Heights.

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