Pittsburgh's riverfronts to get $6 million in maintenance over the next decade

Cleaning up Pittsburgh's three rivers has been an ongoing process for decades. Several groups have helped clean up, maintain and care for the riverfront. On Thursday, the group at the forefront of those efforts rolled out a new initiative that will fund river trail cleanup. 

Riverlife and Pittsburgh announced the launch of UpKeep, which will deliver $6 million in maintenance over the next decade. 

Maintaining the 15-mile riverfront is not an easy endeavor. Crews from Riverlife, however, have been making it happen. And what they find along our rivers is remarkable.

Riverlife CEO Matthew Galluzzo said the rivers are filled with invasive species, and they have a vehicle with a pressure washer meant for getting rid of goose droppings. There's also every kind of debris, big and small, that you can think of.  

In an effort to bolster the mission, Riverlife, the city of Pittsburgh and other groups have teamed up for something called UpKeep, which is a permanent care and maintenance program for Pittsburgh's riverfront. 

Galluzzo says the state, city, and anonymous donations have created a $6 million endowment, "which means that this fund and work will continue in perpetuity." 

"We always see these one-offs where it's 'oh, this summer, we're going to do something small to help out,'" Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O'Connor said. "Now we have a 20-year agreement where there's going to be constant cleanup, constant investment, and that's something we've never done before, and I think it's beneficial to everybody."