Region's rising flood problems require more cooperation, less concrete
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A water rescue crew memeber walks from the scene of a flash flood in August along Washington Boulevard. Four people died in a flash flood when storm drains were plugged with dirt, rock and other debris, making it impossible for water to flow freely into the city's storm sewers.
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When rain fell in Mt. Lebanon 100 years ago, it landed on trees, wide swaths of grass and dirt.
It still falls on trees, grass and dirt, but in a community that is now 99 percent developed, much of the rain lands on buildings, parking lots, streets and sidewalks.
"The stormwater doesn't have a chance to be absorbed into the ground," municipal manager Steve Feller said. "It needs to make its way into the sewer."
Yet the large amount of runoff, combined with a sewer system in need of expansion and updating, means homes and businesses in Mt. Lebanon are sometimes flooded. It also means water is sometimes polluted from sanitary sewer overflow.
Recently, the municipality's flooding and pollution problems have become more severe, Mr. Feller said. It no longer is feasible to maintain and improve the stormwater infrastructure using money from bond issues or funds from the general operating budget.
The municipality sought another solution: a stormwater fee. Starting this month, property owners in Mt. Lebanon -- and that includes residents, business owners, nonprofits and schools -- will pay a fee based on the amount of impervious surface on their property, meaning material that cannot absorb water and thus sends it into sewers.
For owners of single-family homes, the fee is about $8 a month. The fees will fund a five-year capital improvement program and then ongoing maintenance.
In the few weeks since Mt. Lebanon imposed the stormwater fee, Mr. Feller said a handful of other communities have contacted him asking for more information about the ordinance.
"More and more communities nationally are looking to stormwater fees as a way to fund those [stormwater management] activities," Mr. Feller said.
Indeed, in Pittsburgh and its surrounding communities, stormwater management is a major regional issue. But it's a topic that's largely been confined to the invested -- municipal managers and engineers -- and the affected -- the owners of homes where basements frequently flood.
First Published September 22, 2011 12:00 am
