Clean water action

Alcosan plant expansion is a good first step

There’s nothing exciting about sewers — unless you consider the big picture. The hiring of an engineering firm last week to oversee an expansion of the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority complex is an early step on the long, expensive road to reducing sewage overflows that foul Pittsburgh’s rivers, streams, streets and basements. Proper disposal of sewage will make the water cleaner, homes more valuable and the city more attractive to new residents and employers.

So the onboarding of Downtown engineering firm Michael Baker International is welcome and overdue, if not exciting. The firm will be paid about $30 million to oversee a doubling of Alcosan’s treatment capacity, a project that will take nine years and cost more than $300 million. Alcosan serves more than 80 municipalities, and the increased capacity should keep another 3 billion gallons of untreated wastewater out of the rivers each year.

The work on the treatment plant is just part of the story. Alcosan, the county, the city and municipal authorities will spend years and billions of dollars more on other improvements. These will take various forms, such as pipes and other “gray” infrastructure to contain water and get it to Alcosan; rain gardens and other “green” infrastructure to slow runoff during periods of wet weather; and the separation of storm sewers and sanitary sewers to prevent the mingling of rain and waste.

While local leaders should have undertaken these projects years ago from enlightened self-interest, the work is grinding forward now because of a federal mandate that it be done. The federal government is doing us a favor. No matter how much the economy has rebounded or how the quality of life has improved, Pittsburgh cannot claim to have outrun the Rust Belt era, let alone style itself as a Silicon Valley of the East Coast, until it has clean water and functioning sewers.

Amazon, which has named Pittsburgh one of 20 finalists for its second headquarters, has highlighted its real estate, transportation and financial needs for an HQ2. But on some level, water quality and basic infrastructure are going to factor into the company’s decision. No progressive employer, let alone one powered by technology, wants its workers to suffer through basement sewage backups because of an antiquated, long-neglected waste treatment system.

Project planners must act boldly, and that means no squeamishness about use of gray infrastructure. Green projects are fine so far as they go, but it won’t be possible to solve these water woes with rain gardens and water barrels. After these many years, the work should be done right.

Change costs money, and Alcosan customers will see their monthly rates, on average, increase to $42.75, up from about $32.50 now, over three years. Ratepayers should consider this an investment in their health, their homes and their communities.

If Pittsburgh can’t show Amazon a first-class sewerage system, it should at least be able to demonstrate a commitment to getting one.