FALL 2019 VOLUME 30 ISSUE 3 www.boro.dormont.pa.us Sanitary Sewers – The Bowels of a Borough I will warn you now, this article “Eventually, all things merge These illicit connections seem so may not be fun, let alone funny. into one, and a river runs trivial when looked at by a single I typically leave articles about in- through it. The river was cut homeowner. “What harm could my frastructure to our engineer, but by the world’s great flood single drain cause? It’ll be fine.” we are faced with an issue that But some of our residents are suf- deserves the front page and your and runs over rocks from the fering the metaphorical “death by attention. The world is changing, basement of time. On some a thousand cuts.” So many homes and we must change with it. of the rocks are timeless rain- have illicit connections that they drops. Under the rocks are the are severely flooding the sanitary “A good reliable set of bowels words, and some of the words system, causing sewage to flow is worth more to a man than are theirs. into neighbors’ homes and yards. any quantity of brains.” I am haunted by waters.” continued on page 3 - Josh Billings - Norman Maclean, Sewers may be the most underrated A River Runs Through it and aspect of local government. Once Other Stories material moves past the drain, it is INSIDE out of sight and out of mind. All of One of the keys to running a suc- THIS ISSUE the critical components of the sys- cessful sanitary sewer system is tem are buried beneath the streets keeping it separated from the A Note From The Mayor ...................2 and sidewalks that receive most of storm water system. Storm water Senator Wayne Fontana ...................3 our attention. Most people do not does not need to be treated in the The Honorable Conor Lamb .............4 even concern themselves with how same way as sanitary sewage, but it State Representative Dan Miller ......4 often flows in much greater quan- sewage moves from our homes Rotary Club ........................................5 tities than sanitary sewage. A sani- over to the North Shore to be treat- Dormont Historical Society ...............5 ed at the ALCOSAN plant. tary system should be as regular as the people in the community. What Official Actions ...............................6-7 But, when things go wrong, we flows through the system should be Unity Presbyterian Church ................7 most certainly notice. A problem in limited to what flows through the LifeSpan .............................................8 a sewer system does not result in a pipes on the inside of your home Dormont Fire Department ................8 pothole that can be driven around. and the homes around it. But, un- Dormont Public Library .....................9 It results in disgusting trouble. fortunately, too many people have Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation ignored this basic requirement and For the most part, Dormont’s sani- Projects .............................................10 all drains are merging into one. tary sewer system is in great shape. Beechview Healthy Active Roof drains and sump pumps have The Borough has a regular mainte- Living Center ...................................10 been connected to sanitary later- nance program that ensures the en- Stormwater Authority News ...........11 als, thereby flooding what should tire system is video inspected every Road Resurfacing Projects ..............12 be a regular system and flooding five years (20% per year) and the neighboring homes. Dormont AARP ................................13 following year’s maintenance work Scouts BSA .......................................13 addresses the discovered faults. “When the flood submerges DABA ................................................15 While this work helps to minimize Events ..........................................16-17 the infiltration of groundwater the whole country, no raindrop into the sanitary system, it does not may feel responsible.” Recreation ...................................18-19 stop illicit connections. - Erik Pevernagie Garbage/Recycling News .................20 1 A Note From THE MAYOR “Let’s Be Careful Out There” – Sgt. Phil Esterhaus (Hill Street Blues) Dear Friends, BOROUGH COUNCIL As Summer wanes, we come to the realization that another school year is set to begin. With this brings an increased number of children and parents walking to and from our neighborhood schools. As Mayor, public safety is Kate Abel my number one concern, especially when it comes to the most vulnerable President members of our community. Daniele Ventresca I have several meetings a year with our Police Chief and the Keystone Oaks Vice President Superintendent to discuss student safety. Many of these discussions focus on safe crossings for our children. Chief Bisignani has worked tirelessly with Joanna Bouldin the Superintendent to provide our children with the safest route to and Jeff Fabus from school. Every year we reevaluate the placement of the crossing guards Drew Lehman based on the utilization of the crossings. We also provide literature and John Maggio maps to our middle school students on which crossings are the safest to uti- Jen Mazzocco lize and, most importantly, which crossings to avoid. Jason Walsh Drivers and pedestrians both have responsibilities when it comes to cross- Mayor ings. As parents we must be diligent in educating our children on where and when they can safely cross the street. Just because you have the right Ben Estell to cross a street doesn’t mean that cars can see you or have time to stop. Manager As drivers we must learn to put the phone down and keep our eyes on the road. I walked to school from first through twelfth grade, but times are ad- Borough of Dormont mittedly different. Drivers and pedestrians are more distracted than ever, 1444 Hillsdale Avenue mostly by their mobile devices. Suite 10 When it comes time for our children to cross West Liberty Avenue please Dormont, PA 15216 encourage them to use the crossings that have traffic signals. No crossing 412.561.8900 www.boro.dormont.pa.us can be made 100% safe from a distracted driver, but these crossings provide Follow us on Facebook the safest possible route. Providing safe street crossings is a community wide effort. Drivers, pedes- Borough Office Hours: trians, crossing guards, the police department, and elected officials all have Monday 8:30 am to 8:00 pm a responsibility to ensure that our streets are as safe as possible. Borough Tuesday thru Thursday Council, the Police Chief, and I are all dedicated to the safety of our resi- 8:30 am to 4:30 pm dents and we will continue to work with PennDOT to make West Liberty as Friday 8:30 am to noon safe as possible. We are always in need of crossing guards. If you are interested in becoming Police a part-time crossing guard you can pick up an application from the police Department Offices station or on the borough’s web page. 412.561.8900 ext 300 Best Wishes, Police Department NON-EMERGENCY Jason Walsh 412.473.3056 Mayor Fire Department Mayor Jason P. Walsh NON-EMERGENCY Borough of Dormont 412.563.8826 1444 Hillsdale Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15216 Emergency 9-1-1 412-561-8900 x230 [email protected] 2 LETTER FROM SENATOR WAYNE FONTANA CPR Instruction in High Schools In early June, Governor Wolf signed into law Senate Bill 115 (SB 115), that amends the Public School Code to require high school students to receive instruction on CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation). I was proud to co-sponsor this legislation and am pleased it has passed both chambers and has been signed into law by the governor. The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) and Pennsylvania De- Senator Wayne D. Fontana 42nd Senatorial District partment of Health will join to develop model curriculum and guidelines no later than the beginning of the 2019-20 school year. The model CPR 932 Brookline Blvd. curriculum and guidelines must include the following: Pittsburgh PA 15226-2106 412-344-2551 • Be posted on PDE’s public website 412-344-3400 fax [email protected] • Be age-appropriate www.senatorfontana.com • Be revised regularly to remain consistent with national standards Twitter - @WayneDFontana • Provide guidance for integrating CPR into health courses or other appropriate curriculum • Be available to all school entities • Include recommended guidelines and educational materials from organizations with expertise in CPR and emergency care • Incorporate psychomotor skills training including hands-only CPR technique • Include information on the purpose of an automated external defibrillator Each year, more than 475,000 Americans die after experiencing cardiac arrest. More than 350,000 cardiac arrests each year occur outside of the hospital and about 90 percent of those people who experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest die. This new law will help reduce those numbers, giving people more of a chance to survive a cardiac arrest. continued from page 1 It is the Borough’s responsibility to fix this problem, As I said at the beginning, this is not a fun topic. But, but it cannot be done without the cooperation of res- it is critical. We must do better for our neighbors. The idents. These illicit connections must be removed to Borough will be working with those neighbors who preserve the health and welfare of your fellow resi- have been most affected on some preventative mea- dents. What may have seemed like a simple solution to sures, but the cure to this problem involves every res- getting the water out of your yard may have pushed ident ensuring their home is not contributing to this something far worse into your neighbor’s home. problem. We are currently working with an engineer- ing firm to create some much more intensive plans, For many years, these connections did not seem im- which will likely include door-to-door inspections. portant. Sanitary overflows would only occur during Please check your drains first and remove them from the worst of storms every five to ten years.