It is positively medieval that, four centuries after the Renaissance, Allegheny County still pumps raw sewage into its waterways because of outdated infrastructure.
The need for fundamental change in how the region collects, cleans and reuses its wastewater has been obvious for decades, and a great deal of time and money already has been devoted to figuring out how to solve the problem of sewer overflows during heavy rains. It’s been seven years since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency signed a consent decree giving the region until 2026, and it took another seven years before that to craft that agreement, which covers the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority and its 83 member communities, including Pittsburgh.
Given the long-term nature of building a 21st-century water and sewer system, there are plenty of interim targets that must be met. Among them is a requirement that the cities, towns and boroughs in the county give the state Department of Environmental Protection their own plans by March 30.
Now, though, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto and county executive Rich Fitzgerald are requesting an 18-month extension of next week’s deadline. Why? The two elected officials want to incorporate less-expensive, more environmentally friendly methods before the region spends billions on a system of huge underground storage tunnels and collection pipes. The EPA opened the door to that possibility a year ago, when it refused to approve Alcosan’s overall plan, saying it had too much gray — concrete infrastructure — and not enough green — rain barrels, porous pavement and gardens.
If that can be accomplished without missing the 2026 deadline, that’s fine, but it’s probably unrealistic and unreasonable to expect plans that have been in the making for decades to be drastically overhauled at this late date. Local leaders cannot risk setting back this overdue project.
Pittsburgh and Allegheny County have been justifiably proud of the region’s revival. Now it’s time to stop dumping filthy water all over it.
First Published: March 26, 2015, 4:00 a.m.
