PITTSBURGH -- A
slow-moving thunderstorm that flooded parts of the Pittsburgh region and set a local rainfall record is putting heavy stress on sewage treatment systems.
WTAE Channel 4's Bob Mayo reported that the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority plant on Pittsburgh's North Side is handling millions of gallons more than it's able to, which means raw sewage is backing up and being released into local rivers, creeks and streams.
"At a variety of our over 300 discharge points that we have along the (Ohio) River, we will begin to relieve the system directly into any of the three rivers," said ALCOSAN operations director Doug Jackson.
According to the National Weather Service, a record rainfall of 2.92 inches was recorded in Pittsburgh on Wednesday. The previous record of 1.07 inches was set in 1973.
"This includes some sewage, so there's the possibility of various bacteria and viruses entering our waterways," said Allegheny County Health Department spokesman Guillermo Cole.
Treatment of drinking water is not harmed. The threat is to people who use Pittsburgh's rivers for recreation, and Cole advises them to "minimize, maybe even avoid contact with river water, because it's contaminated. It will take some time for the rivers to rebound and return to normal water quality."
Following the heavy storms, ALCOSAN very quickly got up to maximum treatment capacity of 225 million gallons a day. That can happen several times a year, depending on the weather.
With drier weather, Jackson estimated "that we'd be back to normal treatment capacity over the next day or so. In the event that additional rains occur, who knows?"
A new plan for dealing with the problem of sewer overflows must be on the table by 2012, under terms of a federal, state and local court consent decree.
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