O'Hara council applies for ALCOSAN grant

O’Hara is eyeing a grant that would refund nearly $300,000 spent on sanitary sewer work along Powers Run Road.

Council is applying to the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) for reimbursement for work done over the past four years.

The total amount of the application is $289,894.

“It’s for sanitary sewer lining we’ve done that reduces the stormwater burden on ALCOSAN,” Township Engineer Chuck Steinert said.

The project along Powers Run included manhole to manhole lining to prevent infiltration, he said.

If approved, the money would come through ALCOSAN’s Green Revitalization of Our Waterways (GROW) program.

Since 2016, GROW grants have funded projects to reduce excess water from overloading the sewer system. The program aims to create cleaner waterways and assist the Authority’s 83-member municipalities in cutting the amount of groundwater or creating separate systems for storm and sewer flow.

Aspinwall has earned several rounds of funding through the GROW program, including $477,000 for a storm separation project along Center Avenue and $433,000 for similar work along Eastern Avenue.

Fox Chapel has also earned money through the program.

The borough in 2018 earned $658,000 for pipe lining that reduced groundwater infiltration.

Since 2016, the GROW program has distributed more than $30 million in grants to 105 projects that are expected to reduce sewer overflow by 142 million gallons.