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Chapter 5. ISSUES AND CHALLENGES Westmoreland County has an abundant supply of surface and ground- AOI’s include: water resources as illustrated in Chapter 3, but there are significant 1. Turtle Creek impacts on those resources as covered in Chapter 4. These impacts have resulted in numerous issues and challenges which are covered 2. Sewickley Creek more thoroughly through watershed modeling and pollution accumula- 3. Kiskiminetas River AOI (Delmont/Beaver Run) tion modeling in this chapter. 4. Conemaugh River AOI (Derry/McGee Run) 5. Loyalhanna Creek AOI (Latrobe, Ligonier) WATERSHED MODELING 6. Monongahela River Watershed modeling is a tool that engineers and scientists use to study stormwater infrastructure and how it relates to land development and 7. Pucketa Creek, Plum Creek, Allegheny River other activities. Westmoreland County has ten distinct major water- 8. Jacobs Creek sheds shown on the map below, some shared with adjacent counties. 9. Youghiogheny River Each watershed has a unique set of problems and issues. US EPA 10. Indian Creek and PA DEP have established the foundational rules and regulations for new development, redevelopment, and the management of storm- water resources. These rules, found in PA DEP’s Chapter 102 NPDES regulations, require the control of increased rate of runoff (cubic feet per second) for the range of expected storms. They also require the Westmoreland County control of increased volume of runoff (expressed usually in cubic feet) Watersheds of the small, frequent two-year storm. Controlling the rate and volume of runoff from the small, frequent storm also results in control of pollu- tion of stormwater, for many studies have shown that the small, fre- quent storms are the most polluted by runoff from developed surfaces. The Westmoreland County IWRP offers tools and resources to satisfy those regulations at the watershed level. Furthermore, the IWRP ad- dresses those areas of the county where stormwater has previously been unmanaged and uncontrolled through the model stormwater management ordinance and the watershed performance districts deter- mined by this plan. Although the IWRP considered the entire county, it includes a more in- depth look at the 10 priority watersheds/areas of interest (AOI) identified in the Act 167 Phase 1 report, especially those within the highly devel- oped growth triangle in the western part of the county, and those within established, built-out older communities affected by water issues. Issues and Challenges - 76 the Allegheny rivers form the northern boundary of the county while Jacobs Creek helps bound the southern edge of our county. How- ever, many of our political boundaries have no relation to the physical boundaries of watersheds, and so many of our streams drain several municipalities, and many of our municipalities lie within several differ- ent watersheds. The natural flow of water does not heed man-made boundaries; for this reason, we conducted our stormwater study by watershed, and not by municipality. The IWRP focuses on ten areas of interest (AOI) in Westmoreland County identified in Phase 1 of the Act 167 Plan and which were studied in detail for the IWRP and Phase 2. These ten AOIs, watersheds and sub-watersheds represent a cross-section of developing areas across the county, and were chosen based on various factors including a his- tory of flooding and stormwater problems, land development activities, and environmental concerns. The need for study, while required by Act 167, is also necessitated by a historical lack of controls on land devel- opment across the county, resulting in encroachment on and degrada- Paddle-boat rentals are popular at the Twin Lakes County Park Boathouse. tion of our streams. The intent of the IWRP—to manage our county’s water resources wisely—means these streams, their ecological en- virons, and the neighborhoods they flow through, need to be studied WHY WE STUDIED THE TEN WATERSHED in more detail. The ten AOIs and the reasons they were chosen for AREAS OF INTEREST further study are outlined here. Westmoreland County is naturally divided into watersheds – areas defined by landform which gather runoff from storms into a stream or Countywide: other body of water. Ten major watersheds receive runoff from land It is important to note that areas of Westmoreland County which were in our county. Our river watersheds are the Allegheny, Kiskiminetas, not studied in detail are still in need of stormwater management, Conemaugh, Monongahela, and Youghiogheny. Our creek watersheds not only for peak rate control but for runoff volume and water qual- are Indian, Jacobs, Loyalhanna, Pucketa, Plum, Turtle/Brush, and ity. Nearly every stream in our county, even those in rural areas, has Sewickley. The Loyalhanna Creek watershed has the largest drainage reaches where it has been impacted by human activities. While rural area in the county of 298 square miles which includes all or part of 15 residents may enjoy the unspoiled beauty of our countryside, they different municipalities from the southeastern part of the county to the also may suffer from flooding or erosion damage. Furthermore, as north central. In contrast, the Plum Creek watershed drains only a few the urban sprawl type of growth continues to spread along our major dozen acres of far northwestern Murrysville. Ultimately all the runoff in transportation corridors, these rural areas will find themselves targeted the county reaches either the Monongahela River via Indian, Jacobs, for large residential, commercial, and industrial projects. Conservation, Sewickley, and Turtle/Brush creeks and the Youghiogheny River, or and the wise use of natural resources, requires us to plan and study the Allegheny River via Plum, Pucketa, Kiskiminetas, and Loyalhanna how the inevitable spread of development may be best managed. For creeks and the Conemaugh River. So our county, which lies upstream these and many other reasons, our IWRP provides standards and sets of the famous Golden Triangle at Pittsburgh, contributes directly to the requirements for all of the county, urban, suburban and rural areas, Three Rivers. based on the ten priority watershed AOI findings. Westmoreland’s streams and waterbodies also help to form some of our political boundaries – the Conemaugh, the Kiskiminetas, and Issues and Challenges - 77 Turtle Creek/Brush Creek AOI: Sewickley Creek AOI: Turtle Creek is a 147 square mile watershed that spans the border Sewickley Creek AOI is the entire 168 square mile watershed that between eastern Allegheny and western Westmoreland counties. drains the center-south portion of the county. While it is home to a The entire two-county Turtle Creek watershed was studied in 1990 concentration of many of our county residents, this area also is host to as Westmoreland’s very first Act 167 study, done in cooperation with many farms and rural properties. Our county’s commercial heart, the Allegheny County. The 98 square miles of the watershed which lies in Route 30 corridor around Greensburg, lies in this watershed, as do the Westmoreland County makes up the AOI. Commonly called the Turtle County Seat, Greensburg, the area’s largest township by population, Creek watershed, more of the Westmoreland County portion drains to (Hempfield), and innumerable suburban residential subdivisions. The Turtle Creek’s main tributary Brush Creek than to Turtle Creek itself, automobile and its impacts dominate this watershed, which features but the watersheds were considered jointly. The AOI features much Interstate 70, the Pennsylvania Turnpike, (and their major interchange dense residential development, old and new industrial areas, major in New Stanton), US Route 119, and US 30. Industry and former coal transportation routes including the main line of the Norfolk Southern mining sites are also common in this area. Major flooding events over railroad, the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and State Routes 22 and 30, and the years have caused economic hardship and property damage, and many commercial properties. The watershed is home to thousands of the presence of AMD hinders aquatic life in many of the tributaries and county residents and host to many flooding and water quality problems. main stem. Abandoned mine drainage (AMD), stream habitat loss due to human encroachment, severe historical capacity-limiting obstructions, and pollu- tion from the built environment are important factors in this watershed. Photo - New Stanton Borough Photo by Pictometry The heavily-developed and industrialized Brush Creek valley in North Huntingdon New Stanton, PA and Interstate 70, circa 1960 Township. Issues and Challenges - 78 Kiskiminetas River AOI: Conemaugh River AOI: The Kiskiminetas, or Kiski, River is formed by the confluence of the The Conemaugh River begins in Johnstown, and drains portions Loyalhanna Creek and the Conemaugh River and flows northwest to of four counties – Somerset, Cambria, Indiana and Westmoreland. the Allegheny River. This watershed is not densely populated, and the Combined with the Loyalhanna Creek to form the Kiskiminetas River study area is a small portion of it – a 15 square mile AOI draining into and draining a portion of Armstrong County as well, the entire Kiski- the Beaver Run Reservoir, a source of drinking water for much of the Conemaugh River Basin is 1,887 square miles. The Conemaugh Dam, northern portion of the county. The study area encompasses the very a massive ACOE flood control project built upstream of the confluence busy intersection of PA 66 and US 22, the commercial area adjoining with the Loyalhanna Creek after World War II, provides flood control for it, and the historic old town of Delmont, first settled about two hundred this river and for the Pittsburgh region downstream and is not part of years ago. Development and redevelopment pressure in this area the study area. The 14 square mile AOI for the Conemaugh watershed points to a need to address stormwater and other water issues. centers on Derry Township and historic Derry Borough, a town created by the Pennsylvania Railroad as the western terminus of its mountain division.
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