By Len Barcousky, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

An expert on stormwater management suggests that local officials look into charging homeowners and businesses user fees to pay for badly needed improvements to Allegheny County's aging system.

Engineer Andrew Reese told a symposium of government officials and experts that a monthly "user fee," not a tax, based on the principle that "the more you pave, the more you pay" would provide a dedicated source of income for maintenance and improvements to the stormwater system.

He estimated that about $5-a-month per-home fee -- $60 per year -- could raise as much as $60 million annually in Allegheny County and $25 million for Alcosan.

More than 100 attended the morning event at the Heinz History Museum in the Strip District.

County Executive Dan Onorato and other speakers talked about taking a regional approach to solving one of the fundamental problems: Stormwater and sewage run through the same pipes in many older communities. As a result of those combined systems, the Alcosan treatment plant often is overwhelmed by the flow -- even during moderate rain -- and millions of gallons of untreated sewage end up in the Ohio River.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency has ordered the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority to upgrade its 4,000 miles of pipes and other elements of the system. That 20-year infrastructure project is expected to cost billions.

"It's not glamorous," Mr. Onorato said of the subject. But rebuilding the region's aging stormwater lines and finding ways to cut the amount of material flowing through them are critical to keeping drinking water safe and avoiding future flooding in places like Millvale, he said.

Regional cooperation could bring costs down, County Council President Rich Fitzgerald said. He pointed to the creation of the regional 911 emergency-dispatch system as a model for such efforts.

While local governments initially were reluctant to turn over responsibility for fire and police calls to a regional center, the result has been lower costs and better service, he said.

Mr. Reese, vice president of a multinational engineering firm called AMEC who has helped develop more than 125 different stormwater rate plans, said stormwater user fees across the country range from as low as $20 per year for each acre of developed land in Houston, Texas, to as high as $250 per acre in Portland, Ore.

The money raised through the user fees could be used both to improve the existing stormwater system and to finance "green infrastructure" projects, he said.

Those measures, for example, could include providing tax credits to property owners who install "green roofs," he said. Rooftop plants are grown in materials that absorb rainfall. Acting as mini-parks, they also help to lower center-city temperatures and can reduce a building's heating and cooling costs.

Janie French, director of green infrastructure programs for the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, said she has adopted the slogan: "Manage rain -- keep it out of the drain." Native plants with deeper roots and porous paving materials offer two ways to help hold stormwater, she said.