Aspinwall awarded $537,000 from ALCOSAN for Western Avenue sewer project

The Western Avenue sewer project in Aspinwall will be paid in large part with money from the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN).

The borough has been awarded $537,199 through ALCOSAN’s GROW program, marking the third time the authority has prioritized stormwater overflow projects in Aspinwall.

Work is expected to start in spring.

The money is part of a $15.1 million grant round that was announced by ALCOSAN in October.

The borough will pay a 15% match, or about $80,500. Borough Manager Melissa Lang-O’Malley said officials will seek grants to cover the borough’s portion of the cost.

Construction will include separating stormwater from the existing combined municipal sewer system to alleviate overflows along Western Avenue.

Work will target the stretch of road from Fourth Street to Alley A.

Storm sewer separation is expected to reduce the chance of basement backups after a heavy rain and also lessen the number of pollutants that flow into the Allegheny River and nearby streams.

The grant will also help cover a recent $268,660 project along Alley A because the storm sewer will be attached to the one on Center through the alley, O’Malley said.

Aspinwall was recently awarded $100,000 through 3 Rivers Wet Weather for stormwater work in Alley A. O’Malley said the GROW money will cover the balance.

Aspinwall earned GROW grants in earlier rounds to address similar projects along Eastern and Center avenues.

The borough previously earned $477,000 through the GROW program to help create separate storm sewer lines along Center Avenue and $433,000 for work along Eastern Avenue.

Created by ALCOSAN in 2016, the GROW program’s first four grant cycles have offered $28 million for 101 projects and leveraged another $25 million in municipal, authority and third-party funding. The projects are expected to reduce the volume of overflows into the region’s waterways by nearly 140 million gallons.

“It is always exciting to announce another successful year for our GROW program, helping our municipalities keep water out of the sewer system,” ALCOSAN Executive Director Arletta Scott Williams said. “We are excited to see these projects come to fruition, as every gallon that’s removed from the system is one less gallon that could end up an overflow.”

In this round, there were 23 projects awarded grants for sewer separation to green stormwater infrastructure that are, in total, projected to remove 48 million gallons of overflow each year.