Penn. DEP gives Allegheny municipalities more time to explore green options

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) this week granted the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (Aloscan) customer municipalities an 18-month extension on their consent orders and agreements to allow them time to explore the option of a green infrastructure.

“We are fully supportive of the use of green infrastructure tools to help reduce sewage flow volume and believe that the extension will be time well spent,” DEP Acting Secretary John H. Quigley said. “It allows municipalities to explore innovations and continue plans to improve existing infrastructure without delaying the key implementation date.”

While the existing orders, which were created in 2004, required standard sewage system maintenance to lessen the amount of untreated sewage running off into local lakes and rivers, the options being considered would go further toward reducing stormwater runoff.

In this interim period, municipalities will develop a plan for green infrastructure and an implementation schedule, as well as determine the anticipated benefits in the form of flow reduction.

“We are committed to working with [Pittsburgh] Mayor Bill Peduto and County Executive Rich Fitzgerald to find creative ways to address the region's infrastructure needs,” Quigley said.