PWSA: Pittsburgh completed six stormwater projects in 2022
The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (PWSA) announced that, in 2022, the authority completed six stormwater infrastructure projects.
The projects were constructed in five Pittsburgh neighborhoods where excess runoff often impacts public health, safety, and the environment. The authority says that the projects — constructed in Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, South Oakland, Carrick, and Point Breeze North — help to address neighborhood flooding, basement sewage backups, and diminished water quality in Saw Mill Run.
“PWSA made significant progress toward addressing stormwater challenges across our city this year,” says Will Pickering, CEO of PWSA. “We now have 18 stormwater projects in the ground protecting public health and the environment, with more on the way.”
The new stormwater systems feature green solutions constructed above and beneath the ground to manage runoff.
Above the surface, plants, soil, stones, and permeable pavers help to slow, capture, and filter rainwater while beneath the surface, underground storage systems, constructed of gravel, pipes, or modular tanks, hold back rainwater from overwhelmed combined sewers. They then slowly release the rainwater after a storm passes.
“A great deal of planning and engineering goes into each of our stormwater projects to ensure that each layer of the system — those at street level and the underground storage — work together to capture, retain, and safely convey excess water through our network of sewer pipes.” says Tony Igwe, Senior Group Manager of Stormwater for PWSA.
At the Maryland Avenue Stormwater Project in Shadyside, permeable paver parking lanes and new storm inlets capture rainwater to be held in layers of gravel and storage pipe underground.
Just up the hill, PWSA and Chatham University partnered to create the Woodland Road Stormwater Project on Chatham’s Shadyside Campus. There, stormwater runoff is slowed down and soaked up as it flows through landscaping, a rocky stream bed, and modular underground tanks.
At another park project in South Oakland, PWSA renovated the Lawn and Ophelia Parklet with a rain garden, underground stormwater storage, landscaping, and street drainage improvements to capture and store more rainwater in this hillside park.
For the Thomas and McPherson Project in Point Breeze North, what started as a stormwater project, soon expanded to address other critical water infrastructure on several streets. Here, PWSA replaced water mains, lead service lines, and rehabilitated existing sewer infrastructure. The stormwater improvements includes an underground stormwater storage system constructed beneath permeable pavers, grass, and asphalt on several streets.
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