An eye on water: Getting the right expertise will help the city
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Flash flooding that killed four people on Washington Boulevard in August was the most tragic manifestation of Pittsburgh's stormwater management problem, but it is not the only one.
Every time it rains hard, untreated wastewater is flushed into the rivers and somebody's basement drain backs up. During two public meetings, one last week and another last month, more than 300 East End residents and business owners explained the damage they've sustained, the money they've lost and the anxiety they've experienced because of chronic flooding in their neighborhoods. And they say things are only getting worse.
It is very welcome news that, as the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority and PennDOT are making physical changes on Washington Boulevard, city officials are launching two studies aimed at improving stormwater management citywide and upgrading operations at the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority.
Scott Kunka, the city finance director and a member of the authority board, said Mayor Luke Ravenstahl wants "fresh eyes" on the problems, so the city will start a search this week for an engineering firm to study the watersheds, particularly troublesome areas near Washington Boulevard and in Greenfield. This is a solid idea, as long as officials hire experts in the field and don't repeat mistakes in the authority's not-so-distant past, when know-who carried more weight than know-how.
Likewise, state Rep. Dan Deasy, the authority's chairman, who said the agency will be studying how to improve operations and may bring in a management firm on an interim basis, should be equally cautious.
Solving Pittsburgh's flooding problems and figuring out how to properly manage this important public agency are vital. These studies, done properly by the right professionals, are a step in the right direction.
First Published October 19, 2011 12:00 am
