Blawnox awarded $21,700 from ALCOSAN for sewer work

Blawnox was awarded nearly $22,000 from the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) for sewer work in the borough.

Money was made available through the Green Revitalization of Our Waterways (GROW) program and is part of $15.1 million in grants doled out across the region.

“The grant, worth $21,700, is a reimbursement for money already spent on repairs of a multi-municipal sanitary sewer trunk line,” Manager Kathy Ulanowicz said.

Work was done on 1,191 feet of sewer lines along Fifth and Fountain streets.

The sewer lining project aims to reduce infiltration of stormwater into the sanitary sewer line, Ulanowicz said.

“Overall, it is meant to reduce the flow of stormwater to ACLOSAN,” she said.

In its fifth round of funding, ALCOSAN distributed 27 grants for work that includes sewer separation and green stormwater infrastructure, and that are expected to remove 48 million gallons of overflow from the region each year.

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,” said Arletta Scott Williams, ALCOSAN executive director. “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.”

The sixth phase of GROW funding is expected to open later this year.

For more information, visit alcosan.org