The Pittsburgh Clean Rivers Campaign (CRC), a coalition of the Sierra Club, Clean Water Action, Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network, Action United, Nine Mile Run Watershed Association, and Pittsburgh United, is committed to solving the region's combined sewer overflow (CSO) problem with a "green first strategy."
Above, Reverend Rodney Leyd, Board President of the Pittsburgh Interfaith Impact Network, addresses a recent coalition rally to promote the green first strategy, as Heather Sage, Director of Community Projects at the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy looks on.
"In a green first strategy, we would do the maximum amount of green to soak up as much stormwater as possible and get the maximum community benefits," says Pennsylvania Sierra Club staffer Tom Hoffman. "Then our region could determine how much gray infrastructure is needed to finish the job."
The Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) has proposed a plan to address CSO or "Wet Weather" issues with drop shafts and miles of tunnels that would be funded by tripling or quadrupling fates for the authority's ratepayers.
The Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network is spearheading a CRC effort to institute a stormwater utility so that everyone who contributes to the overflow problem is paying their fair share of the fix. For example, large big-box store parking lots contribute large amounts of stormwater into the system but pay little or nothing toward the fix.
Hoffman and local Sierra Club volunteers have been working to educate the public and galvanize support for a green-first strategy in the 82 customer municipalities outside the city of Pittsburgh. Almost 20 municipalities are anticipated to join a regional green study led by the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority.
ALCOSAN is hoping to sign an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency for the riverfront tunnels in the next month or so. The Office of Mayor Bill Peduto has vowed to fight the plan in court if necessary. The Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network is working on a campaign on stormwater utilities to ensure that ratepayers do not have to shoulder an unfair portion of the costs.
Thanks to Clean Rivers Campaign activists, ALCOSAN has created a committee to develop a $30 million Consumer Assistance Program for their ratepayers.
Roughly 200 cities across the country are working to address the problem of sewage in local rivers. At an average cost of $3 billion per city, this adds up to approximately half-a-trillion dollars that could be used to rebuild neighborhoods that have been left out of other investments. A green-first solution would bring many more benefits to the communities than a gray solution. Green jobs and development will renew Pittsburgh communities with less flooding and cleaner air.
