REGIONAL WATER MANAGEMENT TASK FORCE | OVERVIEW

The Regional Water Management Task Force is an 11-county effort to improve water management and water quality in Southwestern Pennsylvania . Our region is endowed with an abundance of water, but we also face many challenges:

• In more urban areas, sewer overflows release billions of gallons of untreated sewage into our rivers every year.
  
• In rural areas, failing septic tanks also release raw sewage into the environment, and minerals from abandoned coal mines leak into nearby waterways, depleting oxygen, killing fish, and leaving Southwestern Pennsylvania with thousands of miles of “dead” or “degraded” streams.
  
• Our region's floods have become more frequent as stormwater management continues to be disconnected from land use planning. Hurricane Ivan in 2004 was an especially dramatic reminder that flooding can affect almost all of us.

The costs of addressing sewage overflows, abandoned mine drainage, and poor stormwater management will be staggering – conservatively estimated at billions of dollars – and these costs will only escalate as time goes on. The Regional Water Management Task Force hopes to reduce these costs and protect our region's most valuable asset by promoting increased regional collaboration and efficiency.

The Task Force is comprised of 18 high-level individuals appointed by their respective county governments. Dr. Jared Cohon, president of Carnegie Mellon University , serves as chair of the Task Force, and Dr. Angelo Armenti, president of California University of Pennsylvania, is the vice chair. The Task Force is supported by several staff members and an extensive technical advisory committee consisting of roughly 90 individuals from environmental groups, utilities, businesses, planning entities, and municipal and state government.

To view the Regional Water Management Task Force video overview, click here.
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To read the Task Force Framing Paper for a more in-depth discussion of our region's water challenges, click here.

If you would like more information on the Task Force and the problems it seeks to solve through collaboration,  please read the fact sheets linked below:

• Our Worsening Floods and What We Aren't Doing About Them
• Overview of the Regional Water Management Task Force
• Regional Water Collaboration Can Happen
• Sewage Overflows in Southwestern Pennsylvania
• Rural Challenges

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PHASE II STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

The Task Force realizes that changes can only occur after substantial public outreach, discussion, and consensus-building. Phase II, which began in January, consists of extensive stakeholder engagement across the region. Between March 28 and May 17, fourteen two-hour public meetings were held across 11 counties in the region. The first half hour of each meeting was devoted to a presentation on the current status of water quality and water management in the region, followed by a half-hour discussion period. The final hour was spent presenting and discussing possible institutional models that might work in Southwestern Pennsylvania . The project team distributed surveys and evaluation criteria, and then listened to public feedback on various alternatives. Anywhere between 5 and 50 people attended each meeting.

The team continues to meet privately with many stakeholders and gives numerous other presentations throughout the region, as well as in Harrisburg . The Task Force hopes that these conversations will lead to the development of specific recommendations regarding new institutional or cooperative arrangements, as well as a plan for implementation. Your thoughts and questions are always welcome! Click here to contact us. You may also request a presentation or a meeting with a Task Force team member. To request a presentation or meeting, click here.

Click here to view the Phase II Presentation >>
Click here to view the Evaluation Criteria >>
Click here to view Stakeholder Collaboration Models >>
Click here to view the Stakeholder Survey >>

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PHASE I REPORT

From May through November 2006, as Phase I of its work plan, the Task Force carried out research to fill information gaps in our knowledge about water management in southwestern Pennsylvania. This work focused on five areas:

• benchmarking of similar regions
• survey of southwestern Pennsylvania 's authorities and municipalities
• detailed case studies to depict how various entities in southwestern Pennsylvania are dealing with their water management challenges
• assessment of the financial viability of existing entities in the region
• institutional analysis to identify possible alternatives that have worked elsewhere and that might be useful in this region.

The report on this work is available below.

Click here to access the Phase I Report >>

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MUNICIPALITIES AND AUTHORITIES SURVEY

As part of its Phase I research, the Task Force sent out a voluntary survey to the region's 601 municipalities and 268 authorities to collect information about their water and sewage operations. This survey included information about customer base, billing, facilities, funding, and governance. The Task Force received a substantial response, with 45 percent of the authorities and 38 percent of the municipalities completing the survey.

The Task Force has compiled a six-page summary of noteworthy data from the survey, including supplemental data from DEP regarding tap-in restrictions. To view the survey summary, click here.

BENCHMARKING REPORTS

The Task Force selected four regions for benchmarking based on their quality of performance in addressing issues similar to those that southwestern Pennsylvania faces. An extensive (40 page) summary of what was learned is available below along with two policy briefs on financing and regulation.

Click here to view the benchmarking report >>

Click here to view Benchmarking Policy Brief– Funding Regional Water Planning and Management >>

Click here to view Benchmarking Policy Brief– Regional and State Regulatory Relationships >>

REQUEST A PRESENTATION

The Task Force project team is available to provide presentations on the work of the Task Force to local governments, elected officials, community and environmental organizations, and other groups throughout southwestern Pennsylvania. The project team is also available to meet individually to discuss the Task Force and to gather input on final recommendations. If you would like to request a presentation or meeting, please email dtg9@pitt.edu with the following information:

Name

Title/Affiliation

Preferred method of contacting you

Are you requesting a meeting or presentation?

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TASK FORCE BOARD

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TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE

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RESOURCE LINKS

Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission
http://www.spcregion.org

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, or SPC, is the region ' s forum for collaboration, planning, and public decision-making. Its ten counties, plus Somerset County , are the focus of the Regional Water Management Task Force.

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/dep/site/default.asp

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is the state agency largely responsible for administering Pennsylvania ' s environmental laws and regulations. Its responsibilities include protecting water quality across the state.

3 Rivers Wet Weather Demonstration Program
http://www.3riverswetweather.org/index.stm

The 3 Rivers Wet Weather Demonstration Program was created in 1998 to help Allegheny County municipalities address the region ' s aging and deteriorating sewer infrastructure to meet the requirements of the federal Clean Water Act.

Allegheny County River Water Advisories
http://www.achd.net/pr/riveradvisory.htm

These advisories, issued between May 15 and September 30 each year by the Allegheny County Health Department, indicate when combined sewer overflows make the county's rivers unsafe for contact.

Regional Cooperation for Water Quality Improvement in Southwestern Pennsylvania
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11196

This 2005 report, published by the National Research Council, finds that a comprehensive, watershed-based approach is needed to effectively meet water quality standards throughout the 11-county region in the most cost-effective manner. It outlines technical and institutional alternatives to consider in the development and implementation of such an approach. (Free executive summary requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.)

Investing in Clean Water
http://www.campaignforcleanwater.net/report.html

Read Investing in Clean Water , a 2002 report from the Southwestern Pennsylvania Water and Sewer Infrastructure Project Steering Committee. (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.)

Plumbing the Future
http://www.elistore.org/reports_detail.asp?ID=491

This 1999 Environmental Law Institute report discusses the relationship between sewage infrastructure decisions in southwestern Pennsylvania and effects on the urban, suburban, and rural landscape of the region. You may download the report for free and are not required to fill out any information in the pop-up window. (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.)

CONTACT US

710 Alumni Hall
4227 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
412-624-7792
www.iop.pitt.edu/water

Ty Gourley – Project Manager – dtg9@pitt.edu
Bruce Barron – Senior Analyst – bab71@pitt.edu
LaShawn Youngblood – Administrative Assistant – lashawn@pitt.edu

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Regional Water Management Task Force

Overview

Phase II Stakeholder Engagement

Phase I Report

Municipalities and Authorities Survey

Benchmarking Reports

Request a Presentation

Task Force Board

Technical Advisory Committee

Resource Links

Contact Us