Chartiers Creek Efforts Paying Off

Canonsburg Council was happy to hear from their borough engineer that their recent enhanced maintenance efforts along Chartiers Creek are paying off. He announced to council on a tour of the creek with the United States Army Corps of Engineers, they said that they were impressed with the progress that has been made along the channel. The Corps issued an informal opinion. He said that the work done over the last several years will bring the creek into the Corp.’s higher level of the “minimally acceptable” range of approval. Despite the seemingly negative connotation, the engineer said that it was a great report. According to Council President Rich Russo, when the USACE completed their flood remediation project from 1968, maintenance of the creek’s channel became the responsibility of Canonsburg. Russo said that over the course of the last decade or so, that maintenance had been pushed aside. That caused the USACE to put the borough on warning. Over the last three years Canonsburg has worked to clean up the issue using all sorts of ideas. In 2023 and 2024, goats were employed to clear overgrown brush. This year herbicides were used along with manpower. The borough hired a company to clear 60 trees with a diameter of over 4 inches from the channel. Canonsburg will be voting on the advertising for bids for maintenance and repairs of the channel. Russo made a point to state that he wants future councils to understand that not doing the maintenance required to keep the creek channel clear could put the borough in a significant financial dilemma. He wants to make it clear that it is an obligation of the borough to continue the maintenance.