EPA settles with City of Pittsburgh, PWSA on stormwater violations
PHILADELPHIA (Feb. 5, 2021) – The City of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (PWSA) are required to adhere to a schedule of corrective actions to address stormwater inspection and enforcement violations under a consent agreement announced today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Under the agreement, the city and PWSA are required to:
- submit an updated stormwater code for approval to the Pittsburgh city council by July 2021;
- hire additional inspectors and enforcement staff for 2022; and
- put management partnership procedures in place by the end of January 2022.
The violations included failure to implement inspections and enforcement procedures for construction site erosion and sediment control measures, and for post-construction stormwater management best management practices.
The agreement requires the city and PWSA to comply with a schedule of activities to ensure full compliance with these requirements by March 31, 2022 and to submit quarterly progress reports to EPA. EPA coordinated with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in developing the settlement.
The city and PWSA are customers of the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN), which serves about 825,000 people in Pittsburgh and 82 surrounding municipalities, approximately 83,000 of those in the city.
ALCOSAN is subject to a federal-state-county consent decree that requires it to reduce sewage overflows into rivers and streams and end the illegal discharges from sanitary sewer outfalls.
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