WHAT’S BEING DONE TO PREVENT FUTURE FLOODING?

An update from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

The Pittsburgh District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operates in a five-state area in the Upper Ohio Valley, defined by watershed basins. Established in 1866, the Pittsburgh District’s work and responsibilities are huge and complex, including a system of 16 reservoirs and 42 local flood protection projects. To talk about some of these projects, we visited with Commanding Officer Colonel Michael P. Crall.

North Hills Monthly Magazine: What are the prospects of flooding in areas such as Etna and Millvale in the case of future hurricanes?

Col. Michael P. Crall: In Millvale just last year, and especially in September 2004 following Hurricane Ivan, we saw that some local flood protection projects that were built many years ago with a so-called ‘flood of record’ in mind might now be inadequate to support current needs.

NHMM: Why would that be?

Col. Crall: You have to take a look at upstream development. The characteristics of the watershed have changed. The Pittsburgh District includes about 30,000 square miles, much of which needs improvement. Locally, when you’re looking at Etna and Millvale, the upstream development includes the greater Ross Park Mall area. Much of that area directly contributes to the water quantity that flows into these downstream communities.

NHMM: What can be done?

Col. Crall: We are working very hard with the congressional delegation of western Pennsylvania and our national leadership to take a hard look at the watershed approach in order to solve, or attempt to solve, the challenges we have in the way of local flood protection. Because of flash flooding probability, if either federal projects or local flood protection projects aren’t in place, then we aren’t going to be able to reduce the risk to either life or property.

NHMM: Are you getting results?

Col. Crall: The congressional delegation and the administration passed the Water Resources Development Act in 2007, and the majority of its provisions go directly to local flood protection in western Pennsylvania. That is very good for us as we look at a watershed approach to this whole challenge. As we partner with local and state agencies to deal with local flood protection, it’s a challenge sometimes because we have so many different local and state agencies that want to partner with the federal government.

NHMM: Can you expand on this?

Col. Crall: Part of the challenge is political infrastructure. How do we decide where the need is? Are we going to leave that up to the federal government? Or are we going to try to partner with an authority which will help us prioritize where the greatest need is? The Institute of Politics and the University of Pittsburgh have a Water Management Task Force that I’m part of, and the Task Force president is the president of Carnegie Mellon University. It also includes other key people. This is an effort to create an authority in southwestern Pennsylvania that can work holistically concerning the entire watershed and determine where the water quantity and quality problems are that we need to attack. In many counties we have combined sewer outputs. Water quantity and quality are linked. The water quantity causes the local sanitary systems to wash into the tributaries, and then into the rivers, which creates public health concerns. Our number one project in this district is public health and safety.

NHMM: At some point, I recall a three-phase dredging project at Girty’s Run being announced. What is its status?

Col. Crall: In the wake of the 2007 flooding in Millvale, I met with the governor and outlined a three-phase plan. The first phase was to remove sediment and debris in order to increase the capacity of the channel. The second phase was to restore it to pre-Ivan condition since it was badly damaged by Ivan in 2004. The congressional leaders from western Pennsylvania were able to get emergency supplemental funding for this in 2006. However, before we could get in there and repair that particular flood protection project, we had a rain event that was an anomaly.

NHMM: What happened?

Col. Crall: When you rewind the Doppler radar, you can see that a storm system stopped and hung over Millvale. It didn’t affect anywhere else like that. Then, 24 hours later, it happened again. Earlier we had to get access to where the damages to the flood wall were, and that required easements to be given to us. We were working hard with Millvale and Allegheny County to seek those rights of entry from the property owners and bring in our equipment, but we couldn’t get it done before that storm. The next day all of those easements were signed and we were able to start the emergency restoration.

NHMM: I assume you still have a way to go.

Col. Crall: Right now there’s over a million federal dollars that are being executed as we speak to restore that project to pre-Ivan conditions. The third step is, “What’s our long term view?” We’re going to have to look at that entire watershed and the entire river basin for local flood protection of the upper Ohio Valley. That might require both structural and nonstructural solutions. Nonstructural solutions could be the establishment of a large retention pond or wetlands, for example. Wetlands often serve not only as a habitat, but as recreational areas for people and of course, as a place for flood waters to go. Phase one is done and we’re working simultaneously on phases two and three.