Colewood Project, Higher Sewage Rates Coming to (All of) Baldwin

A 1.5-million-gallon water basin, approximately 120 feet in diameter, is coming to Colewood Park, and Baldwin Borough residents' sewage rates will rise to cover the cost of its construction, borough officials said at a special public hearing in south Baldwin on Tuesday night.

The Colewood project is needed to satisfy a consent decree from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), whose officials have deemed that sewage water from south Baldwin and the nearby municipalities that also contribute to the Lick Run waterway has led to overflow in a Pleasant Hills Authority water treatment plant.

Actually, Baldwin is under two consent decrees, one for the Pleasant Hills Authority and the other for the northern part of the borough, which contributes to the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) system along with 82 other municipalities.

But borough Manager John Barrett, in an interview after Tuesday's hearing, said that the cost to build the Colewood water basin will be shared by all of Baldwin.

"We don't segregate," Barrett said, "so any repair in the borough is evenly distributed amongst residents."

Borough engineer Ned Mitrovich estimated that the Colewood project, which will also include a pump station near the water basin, will cost between $7 and $7.5 million to complete. Construction will start in the spring or summer of 2014 and must be finished by June 2015.

Mitrovich also estimated that each Baldwin resident will be charged an additional $7 per month in his or her sewage bills but did not specify when he believed that that will start.

The Colewood project is separate from any ALCOSAN project, but when combined, Baldwin property owners could be looking at individual sewage costs of $115 per month by 2027.

ALCOSAN improvements, which have yet to be determined, will likely come after the Colewood project is completed, but it is not anticipated that any major infrastructures will be built in Baldwin as part of the ALCOSAN improvements.

"Sewer rates are going to go up," Mitrovich's colleague Larry Souleret said. "There's just no way to keep them how they are. Everybody's (Baldwin and other municipalities are) gonna have increases in their rates."

The DEP's orders stem from a wet weather problem that is common around the Pittsburgh area. Periods of wet weather (rain) typically cause an increase in sewage water flow due to a number of reasons—leaky sewage pipes being infiltrated by rain, homes set up to dispense of storm water and sewage water in the same way, and others. Watch an animation on the 3 Rivers Wet Weather website for further explanation.

"This is, effectively, the law," Mitrovich said of the DEP's orders. "It has to be followed."

The Colewood water basin, which will be built into a hillside at the sloped end of Colewood Park, will be about 15 feet tall but with a domed roof that will put the entire structure between 22 and 24 feet high. It will be earth-toned so as to blend in with wooded surroundings.

In addition, the Colewood project will include the installation of a long stretch of pipeline that will run from roughly Hollowhaven Drive to the railway that crosses Horning Road.

Souleret said that most of the pipeline will be installed on borough streets. He mentioned Scenic Drive and Curry Road. However, some backyards will also need to be worked through. Affected residents will receive notice.

In addition to Baldwin, the boroughs of Whitehall and Pleasant Hills as well as South Park Township contribute to the Lick Run waterway, and residents of those municipalities must also bear some of the cost to meet the Pleasant Hills Authority consent decree.

Mitrovich said that building the Colewood water basin is the "least-cost alternative" for Baldwin, much cheaper and more realistic than replacing hundreds of miles of inadequate sewer lines.

Baldwin's basin will hold water and release it at a rate that the Pleasant Hills Authority plant can accept. And after the water is released, the basin will be rinsed so as to prevent odors.

Mitrovich said that residents should not be able to hear the pump station, except maybe in times of lost electricity. On those occasions, a generator would go into use.

Residents at Tuesday's hearing raised concerns about the project.

"So the chances are pretty good that our property values will decrease?" asked Daniel Allemang of Overland Trail. "Would you buy a house next to a pump station? I'm the closest house to the pump station."

Souleret said that he couldn't see why property values in the area would decrease.

Allemang's wife, Barbara, raised concern over the amount of deer in the area, suggesting that the animals may increasingly venture into residential areas once the woods are minimized by the basin project.

Mrs. Allemang was also concerned with traffic increases during the building phase as well as a permanent loss of green space.

"We already deal with a large amount of people coming down for soccer," she said. "We already deal with problems, and now, the little bit of woods that's left is gonna be taken by a water shed."

Mr. Allemang said that residents should have been contacted before the Colewood basin was planned, but borough officials pointed out that Tuesday's hearing marked the latest of many public meetings concerning the matter.

Still, John Ferris, one of seven Baldwin councilmen, isn't crazy about the basin project.

"We keep saying, 'consent decree, consent decree,'" Ferris said on Tuesday. "Yes, we do have a consent decree from the federal and state government, but this pumping station is not part of that consent decree. That's something that the engineer and we came up with on our own, not the DEP.

"I think we need to look at different avenues. This is most definitely gonna ruin the value of these people's homes. They live there. Give them a break."

Ferris lives on Colewood Drive and said that some of his neighbors were at Tuesday's hearing.