As part of its ongoing effort to help fund impactful source control projects in its partner municipalities, the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority’s (ALCOSAN) Board of Directors today approved $15.1 million in grant offers for the fifth round of the Green Revitalization of Our Waterways (GROW) program. This also was the first year with the funding cap at $10 million per project.
Twenty-three municipalities and municipal authorities have been offered grants for 27 projects, ranging from sewer separation to green stormwater infrastructure, that are projected to remove 48 million gallons of overflow volume per year. Three projects – Pittsburgh’s Wightman Park green stormwater infrastructure and two sewer separation projects in the Borough of Crafton – took advantage of the new funding cap with a combined award of $7,712,559 for the three.
“It is always exciting to announce another successful year for our GROW program, helping our municipalities keep water out of the sewer system,” said Arletta Scott Williams, ALCOSAN’s Executive Director. “We are excited to see these projects come to fruition, as every gallon that’s removed from the system is one less gallon that could end up an overflow.”
Earlier this year, ALCOSAN released Controlling the Source, a scientific-based, area-specific evaluation of all types of source control that provides municipalities information on where projects can be completed that both are cost-effective and provide the most overflow reduction. Eight concepts identified in Controlling the Source were awarded funding in this round (Avalon, Bellevue, Brentwood, Carnegie, Crafton, Wightman Park, Rankin and Wilkinsburg).
Created by ALCOSAN in 2016, the GROW program’s first four grant cycles, has offered grants worth $28 million for 101 projects, leveraging another $25 million in municipal, authority and third-party funding. In all, those projects are expected to reduce the volume of overflows into the region’s waterways by nearly 140 million gallons.
Any municipality or municipal sewer authority within the ALCOSAN service area is eligible for GROW grants. The sixth phase will begin later this year, and ALCOSAN already is scheduling informational meetings to assist municipalities in the application process.