ALCOSAN’s Green Revitalization of Our Waterways Program: An Innovative Regional Funding Initiative To Reduce Sewage Overflows at the Source

The Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) developed a competitive grant program for its 83 customer municipalities to incentivize green stormwater infrastructure and inflow/infiltration controls to reduce extraneous flow entering the regional collection system. The program was developed as part of a strategy to comply with a federal Consent Decree to control combined sewer overflows and eliminate separate sanitary sewer overflows. The Green Revitalization of Our Waterways (GROW) Program distributes funding based on projected cost-efficiency and overflow reduction performance. ALCOSAN’s grant program addresses a complex municipal sewage jurisdictional structure while incentivizing cost-effectiveness in reducing sewage overflows. In 2017, ALCOSAN offered $9 Million in grant awards for 32 projects that are projected to reduce 253 ML (67 MG) of sewer overflow in a typical year. ALCOSAN anticipates funding at similar amounts in the future, and will use monitoring data from constructed projects to guide its municipalities in their evolving overflow reduction strategies.