‘Raging Rapids’: Some Moon homeowners looking for fix for ‘river’ in their yards

MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Every time it rains, one Allegheny County man’s yard turns into a river. He says it’s been going on for years, and he reached out to Channel 11 for help with finding out who’s responsible for figuring out a solution.

“When it gets going, it’s like a white-water rafting trail,” said Matt Moorman. “It moves so quickly and pounds into the side of our house.”

Moorman says this issue was never disclosed when he purchased his home on Westbury Drive in Moon Township six years ago. He’s snapped picture after picture documenting what happens when it rains. He even recorded several videos of the quick-moving stream.

“I cannot pinpoint one point up there where I think it’s coming from,” said Moorman.

C.T. Miller built the house, two doors down from Moorman’s, 54 years ago.

“It looks like the raging rapids,” Miller said. “We have been after the Township for quite a few years to try to do something to alleviate this problem.”

Miller says that in October 2023, Moon Township put a solution to this problem in the budget.

“$60,360,” said Miller. “We knew that wasn’t going to happen.”

It hasn’t happened because Moon Township keeps telling them it’s a private issue.

“What the township now says is that they cannot spend money or work on private property,” said Miller.

Moorman and Miller say the Township has also told them to contact Duquesne Light because the stream of water crosses over a Duquesne Light easement.

“Duquesne Light has a 25-foot easement here for the towers, but the township has a 10-foot sanitary sewer easement in that same area,” said Miller. “I think that would be the out, for them to put a drain from the corner of my property out to the street into a retention tank.”

As both Moorman and Miller continue pressing for answers, Moorman says his property keeps taking the brunt of this, even rotting out his sun porch. He says he also recently installed a French drain.

“It’s been quite an expensive project just to try to keep my house dry but that’s not going to do any good when the water up here is not stopping.”

He’s now at a loss for what else to do.

“I kind of keep putting it back on the township,” said Moorman. “Just because they charge us a month stormwater fee, and to me I consider this is stormwater, so I feel it’s their responsibility to do some digging to find out where the water is coming from and what the solution. I definitely don’t think one person can come up with a solution to this. That’s where I feel my hands are tied with this because I’m at the end of the stream. I’m receiving all the damage, but it’s not my property to even find the solution to fix. I feel like we need some backup, and more hands up here to figure out where it’s coming from. What’s the cause of it and how we can better direct it?”

Channel 11 reached out to Duquesne Light and Moon Township. Duquesne Light responded with this statement:

“Duquesne Light Company (DLC) is unaware of any work that may have caused excessive rainwater to run through private property in the Westbury Drive, Moon Township, area. The water crossed DLC’s right-of-way but did not originate from that location. We are committed to working with the customer and township to investigate the matter further.”

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