ALCOSAN Information

ALCOSAN (Allegheny County Sanitary Authority)

All waste water from Shaler Township residential and commercial structures is conveyed via sanitary sewer main lines to a regional treatment plant owed by Allegheny County. Your water/sewer bill includes three charges: one for meter or unmetered water usage and ALCOSAN for the treatment of waste water and SHALER OR GIRTY’S SEWER for the maintenance of the sanitary sewer mains that transport the waste water to the treatment agency.  

ALCOSAN is a rate setting authority and these rates are reflected on your bi-monthly water and sewer bill from Hampton Shaler Water Authority.  The following information is provided to you from the ALCOSAN website: www.alcosan.com

Who is ALCOSAN?

Not many of us think about what happens to the water used to flush our toilets or wash dishes. Out of sight and out of mind, and as long as things work like they are supposed to, we don't give it another thought. 

But that water and where it goes is very important to the health of our local waterways and the residents of Allegheny County. It's also important to them at ALCOSAN, as they are commonly known. They treat all the wastewater from 83 communities in the County, including the city of Pittsburgh. 

What do they do?

Located on 59 acres in Pittsburgh's North Side, ALCOSAN and its wastewater treatment plant treats up to 250 million gallons a day of wastewater from your homes and businesses. And the water they release into the Ohio River after treatment? It is cleaner than the water in the river.

Wastewater (and many times stormwater) travels through municipal or authority-owned sewer systems to ALCOSAN's interceptor sewers that then convey the untreated sewage to their treatment plant. From there, that water passes through many processes to remove anything harmful before it is discharged into the Ohio River.

"Decades in the Making" -  Pittsburgh Business Times

"The Lasting Business Benefits of ALCOSAN's Clean Water Plan" - Pittsburgh Business Times