There is no debate that the river is pretty dirty. That said, we go in it all the time. You should definitely keep track though of the CSO warnings and minimize contact with the water during these times. Here are two pages that are good information on the SOAK and CSO warnings. Also check on our home page for up to date alerts during the boating season.
I'm interested to see from others on here how much they pay attention to these warnings. It is something that seems like it would be pretty important, esp near town and the further down stream you get as there would be more overflows above you. Does anyone know how far up river before these issues are not really applicable?
I try to pay attention to the warnings, but I have found that they typically correspond with debris (logs/trees) in the river or muddy waters and since we do watersports, it isn't likely I will hit the river. (go to a lake instead).
As far as how far upstream, on the Alleghany, I would guess Kittanning/Freeport. Further north is less development and therefore less sewer systems tied in.
I also think they can apply when there is little rain/drought as the bacteria,etc doesn't get dilluted in the summer/warmer water but that is just a guess.
I don't know that I'd call it "clean", but I grew up boating on the pool at East Brady. It's far cleaner than the Pittsburgh pool. Not just at the microscopic level. There is less scum, less floating debris and the water is clearer. I know the next pool down (Templeton?) is cleaner as well. I imagine it stays pretty clean through Freeport and Ford City as well. If I had to guess I'd say the closer you get to the city, the dirtier it is, with the point being the epicenter of crap.
The point unfortunately has twice the chance of being dirty with mud, debris or CSO due to the fact that it will get it from either river depending on whether it rained north or south of pittsburgh. The CSO warnings are a result of heavy rain in the areas where older construction allowed for rain gutters to flow into the sewer system. Probably further up river, and further away from the city/metro area, this is less prominent, but I'm not sure on that..
I would have to agree that there are less turds floating in the river the further upstream that you get. Unfortunately the Allegheny starts to get contaminated way up in Warren, PA where there is a refinery. One thing that I have noticed is that where I dock, the river is a lot cleaner than it was 15 years ago. When the river is not up and running fast, you can see close to 10 feet down. I think that is awesome. Back to what MikeyJ was asking, if the CSO flags are up, I will check and see how the river looks. If it is muddy & murky, I won't go in. If it looks like it is clearing up, then I have no problems jumping in for a swim or to go skiing/boarding.
The new SOAK key from Alcosan, which is also found on the home page, had 3 different colors (rather than just CSO up, CSO down). I guess the "Yellow" status is kinda like the overflows are over but the river may not have cleared out the contamination yet and they are not officially ready to say the CSO alert is over.
I figure this is a good time to see how many Allegheny Whitefish people have seen so far this year. I have seen only one along the wall at Heinz Field so far. It was during the paddle at the point festivities.
i can tell you all this. the sewer man hole covers at peggys are blowing off from the over flow every other day. and the raw sewage shoots up 5 feet in the air i have never seen it this bad.. dead rats and the white fish are bad... I had to move my car it was so bad the other night
I work for Cranberry Township water and sewer dept. and the last couple of weeks have been very hard on the sewer systems. Its a combination of rain gutters and foundation drains teid in to the sanitary system as well as old sewer lines leaking and taking in large amounts of water from the ground. And in older systems the street drains also go into the sanitary systems. We have had many manholes surcharge and jsut roll right in to streams. There has never really been any major effect on any type of ecosystems. being there is so much water mixed in with the sewage, it gets dilluted to less harmful amount. With that said there is a lot of disease that travels with sewage so if there is a warning up I would probably listen. One other thing that always kinda sticks in my head is Alcosan treats i believe 14 some odd million gallons a day and puts it into the Ohio (which is fine) and i couldnt begin to guess on how much West View water pulls out of the Ohio just a tid bit downstream(which is normally fine). What happens when there are the warnings for people not to get into the water but west view is is right there picking it up to treat and sell and drinking water or water to shower in?
I've always thought that whoever thought it was a good or OK idea to put the water processing plant less than a mile downstream of the waste processing plant was crazy. Who on earth would do that... Even though the water is treated, at both places, it just doesn't make any sense!
The rivers this year seem to have been a lot more debris filled and muddy than they have been the last few years…..that said we are still pretty lucky to have these waterways so close and relatively safe in comparison to other places in this country and around the world! I agree with what was said before….once the logs, mud, and debris subside the rivers are usually perfectly fine to jump into and do whatever!
CSO Alerts from the Health Department
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Originally Posted by MikeyJ
