A Blog for Pittsburgh’s Flooding Events

Capturing the history of flooding in the Pittsburgh Region so that we may learn from the past to better educate our future.

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The Pittsburgh Urban Flooding Journal’s First Blog Post – The History of Overcoming Pittsburgh’s Flooding Challenges

August 9, 2019 by tombatroney

To its earliest settlers, Allegheny County’s three rivers and its numerous tributary streams, natural springs and runs were the cornerstone for settlement. They served as a constant reliable source for farming. Later they would serve as a constant reliable source for transporting the region’s vast coal resources that would go on to fuel the growth… Read more
Pittsburgh’s Lost Stream Portals

November 22, 2021 by tombatroney

I sometimes like to think of the vast network of streams and rivers as a wormhole portal of water. The portal is a transportation conduit on the surface of the Earth that moves water from the sky, back to its original birthplace, the ocean. Humans manipulate that transportation portal in all sorts of interesting ways.… Read more
The Case for Stormwater Fees (Redux)

August 29, 2021 by tombatroney

When it comes to being a progressively minded flood protected community perhaps nothing is more important than instituting a stormwater fee that is based on impervious surfaces. At the basic fundamental level, stormwater fees set the tone for the town. That the residents of the town are going to take impervious surfaces seriously. I personally… Read more

The Pittsburgh Urban Flood Journal