The Municipal Authority of the City of McKeesport Act 537 Plan: A Regional Approach to Wet Weather Management

The Municipal Authority of the City of McKeesport (MACM) owns and operates a wastewater treatment plant and conveyance system serving the greater McKeesport area. The communities served by the Authority include in whole or part of the City of McKeesport, East McKeesport Borough, Elizabeth Township, Liberty Borough, Port Vue Borough, North Versailles Township, Versailles Borough, White Oak Borough, Glassport Borough, and Lincoln Borough. These 11 communities own and operate their own collection systems. Some of the collection systems are combined and some are separate, sanitary only systems. Although the Authority neither owns nor has jurisdiction over the collection systems, they are the permittee responsible for combined sewer overflows (CSOs) and a sanitary sewer overflow (SSO).The Authority was faced with a choice, place the responsibility for flow management and reduction with each of the communities, or develop a regional flow management plan. The Authority chose the latter. This paper discusses the technical issues evaluated, plan development and consensus building which allowed 11 communities to agree on and implement a regional wet weather flow management plan.