Martina Battistone, senior environmental planner for the City of Pittsburgh | Pittsburghpa.gov
Martina Battistone, senior environmental planner for the City of Pittsburgh | Pittsburghpa.gov
The City of Pittsburgh has released a revised code for stormwater, called the Stormwater Code and Ordinance Review Updates (SCORU), that supports policy and process recommendations and includes guidance that aligns with initiatives pertaining to green stormwater infrastructure, complete streets and resiliency.
There are regulations for how stormwater is managed on development and redevelopment sites, a recent press release from the City said. The code includes requirements that help ensure developments do not contribute to any stormwater issues. The regulations dictate that a development must lessen stormwater in ways that reduce flooding and basement backups, lessen combined sewer overflows and lessen pollutant levels.
"One of our goals in this process was to clarify development requirements for applicants," Martina Battistone, senior environmental planner for the City of Pittsburgh, said in the release. "This partnership allowed us to improve stormwater management city-wide, making the code more user-friendly for developers and designers."
SCORU started in 2020 as an effort to consolidate and improve stormwater polices and code, after a first round of requirements were created in March 2019, the release said. The Department of City Planning, Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (PWSA) and other stakeholders conducted analyses and community input to gather recommendations.
In February SCORU was awarded the 2021 Civil Engineering Award of Merit from the American Society of Civil Engineers Pittsburgh Section for the project's recognition of the necessity to change forecasting due to climate change, the release said. The project implemented a number of "innovative code practices" whereby future rainfall projections are used for stormwater design procedures.
"The City of Pittsburgh is one of the first cities to require these practices, based on extensive national and international peer-reviewed research, review of global climate trends and historic rainfall data trends," the release stated. "The SCORU Project demonstrated sensitivity to the community needs, safety and forward-thinking actions that will provide a vital improvement to current practices."
More information can be found at engage.pittsburghpa.gov/stormwater-code.
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