ALCOSAN: We Need #Room2GROW

May 8, 2018

On April 26, fifteen members of the Clean Rivers Campaign, including several Sierra Club members, showed up at the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) Board carrying a four-foot high letter signed by hundreds of ratepayers from across the region — as well as a petition with 190 Sierra member signatures —  calling on the regional sewer authority to be a leader in funding a green approach to solving our “sewage in the rivers” problems.

A man in a black suite wearing a white clerical collar and glasses speaks at a podium in support of green sewer infrastructure investments. Other supports stand nearby and a bald man in glasses sits at a conference table in front of the podium.

Rev. Vincent Kolb, Sixth Presbyterian Church, urging ALCOSAN to do big green investments to reduce flooding and basement backups.

The group had three spokespeople: Lois Campbell from the Sierra Club, Zinna Scott from Operation Better Block in Homewood, and Vincent Kolb from PIIN and the Sixth Presbyterian Church in Squirrel Hill. They made three main points:

  • The campaign praised ALCOSAN’s Customer Assistance Program for low income customers as being a good example of leadership.
  • Equally deserving of praise were the proposed improvements to the plant’s capacity to treat water during rain events because they make green infrastructure more effective.
  • Low income communities and communities suffering from extensive flooding, like Homewood in Pittsburgh, support green infrastructure because they reduce flooding and bring other benefits to the neighborhoods.

A dozen Clean Rivers Campaign supporters holding Sierra Club signs and a four-foot letter with countless signatures gather around a podium while a resident speaks out for clean, green investments. Three men in suits sit at a conference table in front of the podium.

Ms Zinna Scott of Homewood asking ALCOSAN for green investments to stop flooding in her neighborhood.

ALCOSAN could demonstrate its support for green investments by removing the cap on their green investments program - the GROW program. GROW grants are currently capped at a million dollars. For comparison, the FIRST stage of the Four Mile Run green project in Schenley Park clocks in at $21 million. After delivering the “big letter” and Sierra petition signatures to the Board, the campaign will focus on getting municipalities and organizations that have endorsed the campaign to send resolutions to ALCOSAN for raising the GROW program cap.

Tom Hoffman works with Sierra Club volunteers to fight for clean, affordable, and publicly-controlled water in Pittsburgh. If you would like to learn more or get involved, please contact Tom here. Check out a recent interview with Tom on Union Edge radio's Just Transition program!