WASHINGTON -- Congress this week gave a boost to many Allegheny County communities, overriding President Bush's veto of a huge water resources bill that includes flood prevention projects in the Girtys Run basin, the Pine Creek watershed and elsewhere.

Those projects, however, are far from becoming reality. Lawmakers now must ensure funding in years to come, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must complete lengthy studies before beginning any work.

Still, local officials are optimistic that the federal government will play a larger role in attempts to prevent a repeat of August's widespread flooding in the region.

"This is an important first step," Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato said. "This is an acknowledgement by Congress that there's a problem here."

It was also the first time Congress overrode a veto from President Bush, enabling the Water Resources Development Act to become law. The Bush administration has said the legislation is fiscally irresponsible.

But it doesn't actually allocate any money. It instead authorizes $23.2 billion for projects across the country, including costly hurricane recovery work in Louisiana. Lawmakers now must appropriate money for specific programs in congressional spending bills.

Reps. Mike Doyle, D-Forest Hills, and Jason Altmire, D-McCandless, inserted the Allegheny County provisions in the water resources bill. The legislation authorizes $90 million for flood-affected communities in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, including Millvale and Etna.

It allows the Army Corps of Engineers to bypass some planning steps that impede work in smaller communities. Improvements would focus on "structural flood control, stream bank protection, stormwater management, and channel clearing projects," the bill says.

"We're elated," said Allegheny County Councilman Jim Burn, a former mayor of Millvale, which was hit hard by flooding in August and by the remnants of Hurricane Ivan in 2004. "The money is absolutely needed."

The new law also directs the Army Corps to undertake a much larger study of flood prevention measures throughout the Allegheny and upper Ohio River basins, benefiting such communities as Ross, Shaler, Tarentum, and East Deer.

It also enables a flood control study of the Chartiers Creek watershed and provides credits for communities that need to match federal spending on such projects.

But it will be at least another year before Congress approves any money. The House has already passed the 2008 Energy and Water Appropriations bill.

Mr. Doyle is confident he and his colleagues will be able to finance the projects in the 2009 bill.

"We now have all these projects on the record," he said. "It's going to be a lot easier to go to the Appropriations Committee and get funds."

The planning process could take years, according to Curtis N. Meeder, acting deputy for programs and project management in the Corps' Pittsburgh district. A decade ago, Congress approved similar work for two West Virginia communities: Philippi and Belington.

No construction has started, but the Corps has completed a detailed project report for Philippi, located in the north central part of the state, and intends to make extensions to flood walls and elevate some houses there.

"It's a multi-phased process," Mr. Meeder said of the potential work in Allegheny County. "We have to develop a game plan."

In the wake of the August floods, the Corps has been clearing sediment and debris in Girty's Run in Millvale over an area about a mile in length. Mr. Meeder said his office also expects to award a contract by next month to make repairs to the borough's flood walls. That project, he said, could be done by the spring.

In the meantime, local officials are moving forward independently. Mr. Onorato has been looking to state lawmakers to give the county zoning powers that could restrict upstream runoff from new housing and commercial developments.

Shaler Manager Tim Rogers said communities in the North Hills Council of Governments have been meeting regularly to develop long-term flood control plans, such as joint storm water control ordinances.

But Mr. Rogers acknowledges that help at the federal level is critical.

"We've suffered mightily here in the North Hills," he said. "There's only so much that the local communities can do."