A community meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 14 to discuss the Woods Run Stormwater Management Project* in Riverview Park. The meeting will take place at Perry High School from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

Story by Ashlee Green

Photo by Neil Strebig

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, approximately 772 cities in the United States have combined sewer systems, and Pittsburgh is one of them. Combined sewers collect rainwater runoff, domestic sewage, and industrial wastewater together in the same pipe. This combination of wastewater is transferred to a treatment plant, then funneled to a body of water. Heavy rainfall or snowmelt can disrupt this process, making sewer systems overflow. In these cases, the excess wastewater ends up in streams and rivers, causing pollution.

Combined sewage overflows (CSOs) are happening now in Riverview Park, and excess wastewater is traveling to the Ohio River. To combat this problem, the City of Pittsburgh Department of Public Works, Allegheny County Sanitary Authority, Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, and Friends of Riverview Park have teamed up for the Woods Run Stormwater Management Project. The inflow location is located at the Mairdale entrance into Riverview Park. Community members are encouraged to attend the meeting, hosted by the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (PWSA), on Tuesday, May 14 to learn more about the project. The meeting will explain the infrastructure proposed to capture stormwater and how it helps to improve the capacity of the current sewer system. Residents can also share their ideas on the final project design, and their suggestions will be considered as the final design of the project occurs.

Last year, representatives from PWSA and Civil and Environmental Consultants, Inc. (CEC) held a public meeting to introduce the project to the public. This will be the third public meeting for the project. This year, they hope to break ground on it.

Mairdale Avenue’s stream inflow location, found near where Mairdale Avenue and Riverview Drive intersect at Riverview Park’s western entrance, was chosen as the priority and implementation project to tackle stormwater drainage problems throughout the Woods Runs area. It’s one of eight local stream inflow locations. To learn more about the Mairdale Avenue Stormwater Improvement Project, visit the project page. You can register for the community meeting here.

*This article was edited for clarity on 5/9/2019 at 4:21 p.m.