Back to table of contents. Because of pollution and environmental destruction, the river otter population in Western Pennsylvania was almost extinct in the 1900s. The charges include one count of violating the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System by discharging sludge into the Allegheny River, one of three major American rivers that meet at Pittsburgh.. The Pittsburgh Water and Sewage Authority (PWSA) pleaded guilty Wednesday to eight federal charges for violating the Clean Water Act. The results are part of the fourth year of the Three Rivers Quest (3RQ) study, one of the most comprehensive surveys in the region The river is 981 miles long and flows northwest out of Pittsburgh and through or borders six states. WATER POLLUTION Pittsburgh agency admits pumping sludge into Allegheny River Published: Thursday, November 19, 2020. By Water quality on the Allegheny River continues to be good but pollution concerns persist on Blacklick Creek in Indiana County and Pine Creek in Allegheny County. In 1811 the first steamboat was built in Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Water & … To help, conservationists spent years working on rebuilding habitats and cleaning the rivers before finally reintroducing river otters to the Pittsburgh area in 1982. As a result, the Ohio River is the source of drinking water for more than three million people. Because the Ohio River flows west, Pittsburgh became the debarkation point for pioneers heading for the frontier, earning the city the nickname “The Gateway to the West”. Three rivers, the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio, cross through Pittsburgh's metropolitan area. Boat Building and the Port of Pittsburgh. Eastman Chemical Resins, Inc., located upriver from Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River in Allegheny County, exceeded its permitted pollution limits 72 times in 21 months. Annually, combined sewage overflows affect Pittsburgh’s three rivers between 40-70 days during the boating season (May 15-Oct. 1) making the water quality unacceptable for recreational contact. Consequently, one of the city’s earliest industries was boatbuilding. The Three Rivers Pollution Response Council, Inc. is located in the Pittsburgh Port of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Eighth District and EPA’s Region III. Across the nation, the system that Congress created to protect the nation’s waters under the Clean Water Act of 1972 today often fails to prevent pollution. Gas lamps sometimes had to be lit during the day. Photos Of Pittsburgh's Air Pollution: 1940s Vs. Today. Coal fumes in the 1940s blotted out the sun. PITTSBURGH – A wrongful termination suit from a man who claims he was fired from a water and sewer authority when he refused to dump raw sewage into the Monongahela River is the burden of the West Elizabeth Sanitary Authority, according to Union Township. 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