Listen to John Schombert's entire presentation and questions from the audience

Click to view John Schombert's presentation slides with interactive links

John Schombert from 3 Rivers Wet Weather opened the conference by defining the geographic, economic, and political problems of wet weather issues in the southwestern Pennsylvania region and the Ohio River Basin. He gave an overview of the Consent Orders enforced by DEP and the Allegheny County Department of Health, and then cited two examples of regional collaboration in a manhole mapping project and a flow monitoring plan, showing that the notion of 'adapting governance' has succeeded in the past. Finally, Schombert closed by predicting the economic impact on the region and the burden placed on future generations if wet weather problems are not addressed regionally, and he suggested sustainable solutions to the problem that would require efforts in adaptive governance.

Other resources:

Read information on the Clean Water Act on the EPA's website

Visit the ALCOSAN website and read about the Consent Orders

Check out PA's Stormwater Best Management Practices Manual

Learn about "green roofs" and their impact on wet weather issues

Read an article about Pittsburgh being voted the "Most Livable City"

Time: 59 min 34 sec

Dr. Bruce Stiftel shared his experiences in Florida, a region with great water access challenges and history of contention over water. Stiftel noted that the planet is 75% water and each of us is 60% water. 'Anything that is that ubiquitous in our world, in our cells, and all the life around us is going to touch an enormous number of the things we do, the policies we set, the institutions that we have,' Stiftel declared, as he begin explaining the many uses of water and the different agencies and stakeholders that interact and conflict over its management and use. He cited examples from his home state of Florida to illustrate the context for discussions of adaptive governance.

Water management in Florida needed new, innovative approaches, which became apparent when conflicts over the Everglades region were heating up. The region spreads across county and watershed lines, and the responsibilities and management issues facing the stakeholders in the Everglades first inspired regional conflict assessment and subsequent discussions. Stiftel presented two examples of Florida regions attempting to overcome challenges to adaptive governance where overuse and degradation of watersheds were at issue: one in the Tampa Bay area where the road to regionalization was rough, and one in East Central Florida where neutral facilitators helped to smoothly mediate cooperation.

Techniques of conflict resolution to balance the interests of stakeholders are incorporated in efforts to adapt government. Facilitating conflict naturally produces challenges to cooperation and communication. Dr. Stiftel presented five challenges to adaptive governance that were identified by the contributors to the study of water management in Florida, which help explain that the concept of adaptive governance is in its early stages and that these challenges are 'key to creating successful second-order institutions capable of adaptive governance.'

Time: 1 hr 23 min 15 sec

Listen to Cathleen Curran Myers' full presentation on the DEP's role in water management in Pennsylvania

Over lunch, DEP Deputy Secretary, Office of Water Management Cathleen Curran Myers spoke of the hope that the DEP has to be involved with regional water management efforts in southwestern Pennsylvania. Rob Jones is the Chairman of the Local Government Academy’s Board of Directors and CEO of In Good Company, a strategic planning company. Rob introduced Cathleen Curran Myers to the conference, and recognized the importance of remembering that problems and progress in resource management issues affect constituents, and that we can all learn from their stories.Meyers talked about the nature of Pennsylvania’s government infrastructures, and explained that although they are not supportive of adaptive governance, she saw opportunities for cooperation to achieve the desired end result of better water quality in the state and region. Myers contended that more monitoring will only tell us what we already know, which is that, 'when it rains, we have pathogens everywhere and we can’t meet the water quality standards.' Instead of more monitoring, she advocated for better monitoring combined with modeling for adaptive governance efforts. Meyers drew laughs when she sympathized with municipalities over the complicated processes that they have to follow in order to be in compliance with DEP and Health Department regulations. She presented the idea of having one water resources management plan with a template to follow in order to save each municipality from an unreasonable amount of planning, and requested help from officials to work towards the comprehensive plan.

Time: 28 min 19 sec

Listen to the entire panel discussion on adapting government and water management

Moderated by Cindy Hasenjager of 3 Rivers Wet Weather, a panel of local experts provided perspectives on adaptive governance options and water management issues that they have handled in their communities.

Douglas Watkins of Upper St. Clair Township gave the perspective of a middle watershed and spoke of the success that they have had with collaboration in dealing with the Painters Run and Chartiers Creek watersheds. Watkins noted that Upper St. Clair, through bond issues, has incurred millions of dollars in debt because they are committed to fixing the water management problems, and explained that intergovernmental cooperation can assure local interest, responsibility, and essential services.

Mary Ellen Ramage of the Borough of Etna described the ongoing and persistent problems faced by lower watersheds affected by upstream communities’ runoff, citing the specific example of the flooding of Etna after Hurricane Ivan in 2004. Ramage noted that the Consent Order process proved that neighboring communities can get along, and said that working together with the four watersheds in their COG has yielded progress in managing flooding and stormwater issues.

Michael Dufallo of Indiana County Municipal Services Authority talked about the challenges of cooperation and infrastructure repair in a rural, upper watershed. He spoke of the County Municipal Services Authority that governs the water management issues in Indiana County, and mentioned that a county authority takes away from a lot of the politics involved with getting municipalities to work together. He also said it provides for planning and better service. Duffalo conveyed to the audience how the incentives for lower user fees and for newer, better infrastructure and treatment plants in member municipalities inspires them to join county authorities.

Click to view Mike Duffalo's presentation slides

Kevin Garber of Babst, Calland, Clements and Zomnir, P.C. offered some legal incentives to adapting government, like the ability to self-regulate taps, availability of resources, and long-term planning. He also spoke of some practical ways to adapting, like making sure all agencies are on the same page, ensuring that the plans are achievable, getting the citizens involved, and creating management ease with one group overseeing compliance with regulations. Garber advocated for bringing wet weather water quality standards into the forefront of discussion, and performing supplemental environmental work in lieu of incurring penalties to show good faith.

Ty Gourley of the Institute of Politics promoted the work the Regional Water Management Task Force is doing to provide models for multi-municipal collaboration in water management, and to educate municipalities on the water quality benefits and economic benefits of regional collaboration. Gourley acknowledged the balancing act involved with stakeholder values, and explained that efficiency is not the ultimate goal. Cooperation can take many forms, and according to Gourley, the Task Force is dedicated to designing achievable plans that will result in desirable outcomes.

Click to view Ty Gourley's presentation slides

Time: 1 hr 1 min 57 sec

Listen to Dan Onorato's full presentation and discussion with audience

The day concluded with an appearance from Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato. He noted that the consent orders were moving into the 'fix it' phase, and said that he was determined to lobby for federal and state dollars with a collective, regional plan for how the money will be used. Onorato expressed the feeling that the quality control and contracting processes would be adversely affected if separate contracts for each municipality were drawn instead of one regional contract, but conceded that there is not one certain entity that should oversee the process. He stated that economic status should not matter, because a regional approach means that all communities should be involved in water management and should have stable infrastructure to support it. Onorato explained the comprehensive plan for Allegheny County and long-term planning for the future, and how a sustainable plan for water and sewer management would fit into the bigger picture. The audience was given the opportunity to ask questions of Onorato, where the consent orders and the comprehensive regional plan were discussed further.

Time: 25 min 32 sec