Crescent Early Childhood Center Green Stormwater Infrastructure

The Crescent Early Childhood Center is a Pittsburgh Public School facility located at the bottom of a steep hill (Tokay Street). This 2016-17 project brings runoff from the street onto the expansive front campus of the school via a sidewalk trench drain, and the water then moves through a series of connected rain gardens with underground storage to capture large rain events. This site was part of the Rosedale Runoff Reduction Project.

As part of the project, we worked to secure a 20-year operations and maintenance plan with Pittsburgh Public Schools, which included plans to use the garden as a teaching tool for future generations about sustainable ways of using water.

2025 Update

This site is expected to capture more than 325,000 gallons annually of stormwater runoff, but monitoring indicated that the existing rain gardens were not being utilized to their full capacity.

In 2025, we worked with partners to replace a broken stormwater inlet. A new cast iron curb inlet and a stormwater trench drain were installed, meeting city and water authority standards. The trench drain now captures runoff from the entire street, directing it into the rain gardens, and has doubled the area’s stormwater capture by diverting water that previously contributed to the combined sewer system.

We are currently monitoring the project post-construction to determine if there is an increase in stormwater capture.

Partners

Operation Better Block
East Hills Consensus Group
Pittsburgh Public Schools
PWSA
ALCOSAN
City of Pittsburgh
Ethos Collaborative
JASE Construction Services
OBB Jr. Green Corps.

Funding

The $117,815 design and construction project was funded by:
PA Department of Environmental Protection
Richard King Mellon Foundation
The Heinz Endowments

2025 Partners

Ethos Collaborative
Cronin Enterprises
Pittsburgh Public Schools
City of Pittsburgh Department of Mobility and Infrastructure
Pittsburgh Water

2025 Funding

The Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds
Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation: Quick Response Repair Program