Murrysville continues with stormwater pond retrofits

Many of the older stormwater detention ponds scattered throughout Murrysville were built with the idea of containing a 100-year storm.

As the decades have progressed, state environmental officials found that smaller, more frequent storms typically cause more damage as they carry pollutants and erode local streams and creeks.

Larger communities such as Murrysville must adopt a municipal separate storm sewer system, or MS4 program. Part of that plan includes finding ways to reduce pollution in the state’s waterways.

Murrysville has been doing that by retrofitting older stormwater detention ponds. More than a half-dozen have been retrofitted since 2019, and municipal officials voted this month to proceed with grant funding to retrofit four more.

Chief Administrator Michael Nestico said the retrofits would take place on detention ponds in the Fair Oaks, Mallard Landing, Bartlett Court and Les Chateaux subdivisions. The work comes at a cost of $212,950, largely funded through a grant from the state’s Department of Community and Economic Development. The municipality is putting up a 15% match of just under $32,000.

Murrysville’s eye toward balancing land use with environmental concerns over the years helped to earn it the Westmoreland Conservation District’s annual Conservation Partnership Award in 2020.

Conservation district officials said Murrysville was home to several conservation-related “firsts” in the region, including the installation of stormwater ponds and establishing ordinances that promote best-management practices when it comes to stormwater runoff.