Sonja Reis | MRCDC
The McKees Rocks Borough is the recipient of a $377,000 Green Revitalization of Our Waterways (GROW) grant through the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority.
This grant is one of 32 matching municipal grants totaling $9 million that was awarded throughout the county for projects that will significantly reduce the volume of sewer overflows within the ALCOSAN collection system. Together, these projects in 18 municipalities and 10 Pittsburgh neighborhoods will remove nearly 70 million gallons of stormwater and groundwater from the ALCOSAN system annually.
“This was a terrific award to win and a substantial chunk of money,” says Jeb Feldman, manager of economic development at McKees Rocks Community Development Corporation (MRCDC), who partnered with the borough to develop the project and apply for this funding.
In December, MRCDC announced that in working with the Borough of McKees Rocks and other local partners, McKees Rocks had been awarded a $750,000 Multimodal Transportation Fund grant through Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Finance Authority.
The two grants, totaling more than $1.12 million, will be combined and be put toward the initial phase of a reconstructed commercial main street along lower Chartiers Avenue as well as stormwater management infrastructure. Phase I is expected to cost $2.33 million to implement and MRCDC is exploring various sources to secure the remaining funding needed to initiate construction.
The GROW award will allow for the separation of stormwater from the sewer system along Chartiers Avenue from the creek to McDonald’s Way. This separation will also occur along McDonald’s Way and will include a high capacity pipe to allow for future expansion of the separated system, which will empty into Chartiers Creek.
ALCOSAN created the GROW program in June and immediately began working with its 83 member municipalities and municipal sewer authorities that send wastewater to its treatment facility.
