Drinking Water from Mon Deemed Safe
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
7 August 2010
By Tim Puko
Drinking water from the Monongahela River could taste acidic, smell
funny and stain dishware during at least the next week.
According to state and federal data, the Mon -- which 750,000
Pennsylvanians rely on for drinking water -- has a high quantity of a
secondary pollutant that makes it a mild saltwater. Though less
pleasant to taste, it is not a health hazard to drink.
Only rain -- an influx of fresh water -- can fully dilute the
pollutants in the river, said Werner Loehlein, chief of water
management at the Army Corps of Engineers, Pittsburgh District.
No significant rain, however, is forecast before Thursday -- at the
earliest. And the river level is nearly 50 percent lower now than its
average low, said Daniel Jones, a corps spokesman.
"Without any precipitation, that is a reasonable assumption that the
levels would increase. We're going to remain vigilant in our sampling,"
said Katherine Gresh, spokeswoman for the state Department of
Environmental Protection's local office. "We're in the very beginning
stages of any kind of trend."
The department began taking more samples along the river and its
tributaries when high contamination levels were first reported near
Clairton about three weeks ago, Gresh said. Indicators of pollution
have climbed about 30 percent since July 24 at the U.S. Geological
Survey's river monitor in Elizabeth.
This marks the third consecutive year that pollution has climbed during
the late summer, when river levels are lowest. Acid-mine drainage has
always been a problem in the Monongahela, but scientists monitoring the
water are noting early evidence that chemicals from Marcellus shale gas
drilling are contributing to the recent problems.
Because of the expanding gas industry, Washington-based American Rivers
ranked the Monongahela as the ninth-most endangered river in the
country this year.