The second emergency is this: Extreme weather made 2018 the wettest year on record, and 2019 has already seen numerous incidents of landslides and flooding. But details on the multibillion-dollar plan have been slow to arrive, despite the fact that the need for stormwater management has never been more pressing. вЂњItвЂ™s reaching the end of its design life.вЂќД¬urrently, stormwater mixes in with raw sewage as it drains and then overflows into our streams and rivers every time thereвЂ™s more than one-tenth of an inch of rain, she says, вЂњwhich is a very routine rainfall event.вЂќД¬ounty officials estimate that around nine billion gallons of sewage flow into our rivers every year.ДЄs a result, the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) has been operating under a federal consent decree since 2007 demanding the utility eliminate the overflows by 2026. вЂњWe have sociologists working on water equity issues, we have economists studying cost-benefit analysis of different water mitigation strategies, we have folks in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs looking at international water rights issues.вЂќД®lliott explains that our region is confronting a twofold water emergency.ДЇirst, thereвЂ™s the long-standing issue of the countyвЂ™s water and sewage system: вЂњPittsburgh, like many other cities, has infrastructure that was built 100 years ago,вЂќ says Elliott. вЂњThe hope is that through the Pittsburgh Water Collaboratory we can connect the research expertise - not just in our department at Pitt, but all across the university,вЂќ says Elliott. ThatвЂ™s the central mission of the team at the UniversityвЂ™s Pittsburgh Collaboratory for Water Research, Education, and Outreach, where Elliott serves as director.

Pittsburgh water collaboratory group