Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato this week announced $4.4 million in funding for 15 municipalities to make sewer system repairs identified as critical by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The funding comes from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant-Recovery Program, part of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009.

“This stimulus funding is allowing us to repair critically damaged parts of the regional sewer system and protect our rivers and streams,” said Onorato. “Thanks to the funding, we are also creating or retaining more than 200 construction-related jobs in these tough economic times. This program will put people to work, repair vital infrastructure, reduce pollution, protect the environment, and facilitate economic growth.”

The funds will be used to repair collapsed, defective or clogged sewers, as well as those that have significant stormwater inflow and infiltration. The repairs will help to eliminate sewage overflows into local rivers and streams during rain events and storms, thereby ensuring long-term compliance with the federal Clean Water Act.

The 15 projects were identified as areas in need of critical repair by comprehensive sewer televising, an effort to locate significant deficiencies in sewer systems. All of the selected projects had been previously submitted to the Allegheny County Department of Economic Development for funding.

The projects had also been recommended by 3 Rivers Wet Weather due to their benefits relative to the EPA’s consent decree with the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority to upgrade the sewage systems serving 83 municipalities.

There are no Department of Environmental Protection permitting requirements, therefore the projects can be engineered and put out for bid quickly.

Fifteen percent of the total funding will be placed in a Public Improvements Working Fund for project contingency and administration.