ALCOSAN Issues Statemetnt on Consent Decree - 5/21/2007

Pittsburgh – The Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) has concluded negotiations with the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the state Department of Environmental Protection and the Allegheny County Health Department regarding a consent decree to address sewer overflows.

ALCOSAN Executive Director Arletta Scott Williams signed the document today and will forward it to local, state and federal officials for final approval. After all parties have signed, the document will be lodged in federal court and a comment period will follow. ALCOSAN will conduct a series of regional meetings aimed at informing the public and soliciting feedback on activities that will be required.

Currently, ALCOSAN continues to be prohibited from speaking about the document’s contents until all parties have signed the agreement and it is lodged with the court.

While the issue of regulatory consent decrees addressing sewer overflows is not unique throughout the country, the ALCOSAN service area provided a challenge due to the fragmentation of sewer line ownership. ALCOSAN owns and maintains 90 miles of interceptor sewer lines while the communities own and maintain almost 4,000 miles of sewer lines.

“This culminates negotiations that have spanned off-and-on over seven years with results that will initiate the largest public works project ever in Allegheny County,” Williams said. “We look forward to addressing and alleviating the misconceptions regarding tasks and responsibilities that developed as a result of the confidential negotiations,” she added.

Currently, the 83 communities within the ALCOSAN service area are under EPA mandates to repair broken sewer lines, reduce inflow and infiltration, reduce the frequency and amount of combined sewer overflows, and eliminate sanitary sewer overflows. “The consent decree will coordinate with existing community agreements,” Williams said. ALCOSAN’s document addresses maximizing flow to the treatment plant and providing a greater level of treatment.

Located along the Ohio River on Pittsburgh’s Northside, ALCOSAN treats an average of 200 million gallons of wastewater daily representing treatment service for 320,000 customers in 83 communities including the City of Pittsburgh. ALCOSAN is not a county agency but a joint city-county authority operating under state guidelines. ALCOSAN receives no tax monies and its revenues are generated solely by rates.