The ALCOSAN Story

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The ALCOSAN Story

• as told by
• David W. Borneman P.E.

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Who, What and Where is ALCOSAN?

• Allegheny County Sanitary Authority
• Provide Wastewater Treatment Service to
  Eighty-three (83) Municipalities is SW PA
• Formed in 1945 and Began Providing Service to
  Communities in 1959
• Governed by the PA Municipal Authorities Act
• Revenues Generated by User Charge System

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and SIX TIME SUPER BOWL CHAMPION
PENNSYLVANIA
Home of the MLB Champion PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
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Pennsylvania Sewer System Rankings
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Some Pennsylvania Statistics

• Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
• Population 12,448,279
• 67 Counties
• 2,567 Municipalities
• Largest County Populations
• Philadelphia 1,447,395 (0ne Municipality)
• Allegheny 1,215,103 (130 Municipalities)
• Largest Municipal Populations
• Philadelphia - 1,447,395
• Pittsburgh 311,218

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Allegheny County/ALCOSAN Statistics

• Allegheny County
• Population 1,215,103
• 130 Municipalities
• ALCOSAN Service Area
• Population 880,000
• 83 Municipalities
• Largest ALCOSAN Municipal Customer Populations
• Pittsburgh 311,218
• Penn Hills 44,162
• Smallest ALCOSAN Municipal Customer Populations
• Ben Avon Heights 357
• Thornburg - 432

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ALCOSAN Municipalities

• Populations ranges from lt400 to 311,000
• Areas range from 1.8 to 58 sq. miles
• 13 combined systems
• 14 mixed systems
• 56 sanitary systems
• Median household incomes ranging from 14,000 to
  160,000

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Wastewater Management Components
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Municipal Collection Systems

• Owned and Operated by Customer Municipalities
• Approximately 4,000 miles sewers
• Varying Management Practices
• Operating Authorities
• Financial Authorities
• Part of Municipal Public Works Services

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• Over Ninety Miles of Interceptor Sewer
• 30 miles Deep Tunneled Interceptors along the
  Major Rivers (Allegheny, Monongahela Ohio)

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• 60 miles of Shallow Open-Cut Interceptors along
  the tributary streams (Chartiers Creek, Saw Mill
  Run, Turtle Creek, etc.)
• Over 300 Regulating Chambers w/Outfalls

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One Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility

• Provides Secondary Treatment
• Discharges to Ohio River
• Located on North Side, City of Pittsburgh
• Permitted Capacity 250 MGD

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Wet Weather Issues and Impacts

• CSO Discharges

Illegal SSOs
Boating on Ohio River near Heinz Field
Basement Back-ups
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CSO Policy Mandates a Consent Decree
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ALCOSAN Negotiating Goals

• Achieve the most cost effective solutions to
  generate the best deal for the ratepayer
• Civil Penalty lt 1Million

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Consent Decree Negotiating Teams

• ALCOSAN
• ALCOSAN Executive Director
• ALCOSAN Management Staff
• Environmental Compliance
• Engineering Construction
• Regional Conveyance
• Operations Maintenance
• Public Relations
• Outside Counsel Eckert Seamans
• Technical Consultant - CDM
• NOT PRESENT
• Customer Municipalities
• Three Rivers Wet Weather

• The Government
• EPA (US Environmental Protection Agency)
• Outside Counsel - The Department of Justice
• Staff Counsel - Region III and Headquarters
• Technical Staff - Region III and Headquarters
• Technical Consultant - SAIC
• PADEP (Department of Environmental Protection)
• ACHD (Allegheny County Health Department)

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EPA Consent Decree Settlement Process

• Seven years of negotiations and drafts
• September 2000
• ALCOSAN received EPA draft Consent Decree
• November 2001
• Regulatory agencies placed ALCOSAN negotiations
  on hold to negotiate the municipal administrative
  orders
• July 2003
• ALCOSAN negotiations resume
• May 2007
• Consent Decree draft finalized
• January 2008
• Consent Decree entered and in effect

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ACO COA Negotiations

• Two years of Negotiation (2002 2004)
• Held over 150 meetings using a Three Basin Format
• Participating Players
• PADEP (Department of Environmental Protection)
• ACHD (Allegheny County Health Department)
• Municipal Elected Officials, Engineers and
  Managers representing 83 municipalities
• Three Rivers Wet Weather Inc. (Facilitator)

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•  3RWW was created in 1998 through unique
  coordination and cooperation between a public
  works agencyALCOSANand a public health
  agencythe Allegheny County Health Department.
• 3RWW is committed to
• Improving the quality of Allegheny County's
  water resources by helping communities address
  the issue of untreated sewage and stormwater
  overflowing into the region's waterways.
• Promoting the most cost-effective, long-term,
  sustainable solutions, the nonprofit organization
  benchmarks sewer technology, provides financial
  grants, educates the public and advocates
  inter-municipal partnerships.

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Current Regulatory (Enforcement Order) Framework
Affects 83 Municipalities who are tributary to
ALCOSAN
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Consent DecreeLTCP Requirements

• The CD holds ALCOSAN responsible for evaluating,
  monitoring, modeling, repairing and assuring
  compliance for the conveyance and treatment
  system in the service area
• The CD requires ALCOSAN to include critical
  portions of the collection systems in the
  planning phase activities
• The CD commits ALCOSAN to a rigid schedule
  encompassing nearly 20 years of planning, design,
  and construction together with our municipalities
  to control or eliminate wet weather discharges

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Municipal COA and ACO Requirements

• Assess and map the sewer collection system
• Clean and televise the system
• Make critical repairs
• Conduct flow monitoring
• Prepare feasibility studies to quantify level of
  service and municipal capital improvements
• Cooperate and participate in the development of
  the ALCOSAN Regional Wet Weather Plan

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Penalties

• Consent Decree (ALCOSAN)
• Civil Penalty (past) - 1.2 million 400,000
  each USEPA/PaDEP/ACHD
• Stipulated Penalties (future) 750 to 2,500
• Per event per day
• For dry weather discharges and wet weather SSOs
• For failure to perform activities identified in
  the Consent Decree
• Forgiveness Clause
• Municipal Consent Orders and Agreements (COA) and
  Administrative Consent Orders (ACO)
• Do not include penalties for past and current
  violations of the Clean Water Act and the Clean
  Streams Law

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Consent Decree/Municipal Order Timeframes
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Daves Top Ten List of CD Issues

• Who Owns the Outfalls?
• Critical Portions of Regional Collection System
• Treatment Requirements for CSS and SSS
• Secondary Treatment in Pennsylvania
• Water Quality Goals Sensitive Areas
• Affordability and Financial Capability
• Stipulated Penalties
• Engaging Municipal Officials and Educating Public
• Coordination and Exchange of Municipal
  Information
• Cultivate Source Reduction Incentives and
  Institutional Changes

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Wet Weather Plan Building Blocks

• GIS
• Precipitation Monitoring
• Flow Monitoring
• Hydrologic Hydraulic Modeling
• Water Quality Sampling, Modeling and Assessment

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Alternatives Analysis

• Achieve municipal, basin and regional goals
• Meet compliance responsibilities
• Cost effectiveness / minimize life cycle costs
• Constructability and operational issues
• Siting, community and environmental impacts /
  benefits
• Water quality benefits

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Financial Capability Assessment

• Affordability rate payers ability to pay
• Financial capability ALCOSAN municipal
  abilities to finance
• ALCOSAN and municipal compliance costs
• Include current systems costs CIP
• Implementation scheduling and compliance strategy

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Household Median Incomes
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Basin Planning Committees - Participants

• ALCOSAN
• Municipal Managers
• Municipal Engineers
• Program Manager
• Basin Planner
• Basin Coordinator
• COGs
• Local Environmental Special Interest Groups
• Regulatory Agencies

Carnegie Library
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Use of Regional Working Groups

• Flow Monitoring Working Group and Feasibility
  Study Working Group
• ALCOSAN and 3 Rivers Wet Weather Staffs
• ALCOSAN Basin Planners and Coordinator
• Municipal Engineers and Managers
• 3 Rivers Wet Weather Program Managers
• PaDEP, ACHD

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• Regional Stakeholder Group
• Basin committee representatives
• ALCOSAN
• 3RWWDP
• Customer Municipal Advisory Committee Rep
• Community development groups
• Economic development groups
• Academia
• Major users
• Riverfront stewardship and recreation
• Foundations
• County Government
• Environmental Groups
• Regional planning
• Regulatory agencies

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ALCOSAN Secured Web Site

• Access through www.alcosan.org
• Contains mapping, water quality data, flow
  monitoring data, regional and basin planning
  announcements and meeting minutes, public
  advisories, CSO/SSO discharge reporting
• Municipalities may access secured information
  with password/code
• Web site to be updated regularly

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Coordination Schedule
Municipal ACO/COA - Requirements
Phase I Assessment
Phase II Flow Monitoring and Planning
Municipal Feasibility Study
2004
2005
2007
2008
2013
2026
2010
2006
2011
2012
2009
WET WEATHER PLAN DEVELOPMENT
Mapping, System Inventory, Assessment
WWP Implementation
Flow Monitoring
Hydrologic and Hydraulic Modeling / Hydraulic
Characterization
January 2013
ALCOSAN Requests for Municipal Documentation
Basin Facility Plans Key Elements (Approximate
to be refined by basin planners
Wet Weather Plan Development
ALCOSAN Basin Planning/WWP Activities1
1 Per ALCOSAN Municipal Coordination Activity
Schedule
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Integration of Basin Plans into the Regional Wet
Weather Plan

• Alternatives Development and Evaluation
• Tunnel / plant capacity framework
• Regional capacity expectations
• Inter-basin coordination
• Alternatives Integration
• Iterative regional modeling
• Inter-basin optimization

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Questions / Discussion