LOCAL WATER CONDITIONS
As your local Waterkeeper, we monitor and patrol the mainstem rivers as well as their tributaries. Some of the most commonly asked questions that we get asked are related to the health and status of our rivers. Our rivers our resilient, and through protections like the Clean Water Act and the PA Clean Stream Law, we see indication that our rivers have come a long way from the pollution-ridden bodies of water they have been known as for so long.
We still have a long way to go, but you can learn about the current status of our rivers from a few of the resources below.
Three Rivers Waterkeeper works primarily in the Headwaters of the Ohio River Basin. Sampling, monitoring, and patrolling occurs within the region outlined in blue on the map.
​
Want to find your local Waterkeeper? Check out Waterkeeper Alliance's interactive map here.
​​​​
Local water conditions can be determined through various parameters and monitoring platforms. Read on to learn more about the following:
​
-
3RWK's Live Monitoring Buoy
-
​Baseline Water Monitoring
-
USGS' Water Monitoring Sites
-
ALCOSAN Soak Alerts & Swim Guide Monitoring
Continuous Live Monitoring Buoy
Three Rivers Waterkeeper maintains a continuous water monitoring buoy that collects realtime samples while placed on our rivers. The buoy is currently in the Ohio River across from the mouth of Raccoon Creek for the summer season. You can view live data any time by visiting 3rwk.org/buoy
This project is a collaboration between Three Rivers Waterkeeper and Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community
Baseline Water Quality Data
.jpg)
In 2021 the Pittsburgh Water Collaboratory and Three Rivers Waterkeeper received funding from the University of Pittsburgh's Year of Engagement Program to collect 100 samples from the tributaries that feed the Ohio, Monongahela, and Allegheny Rivers.​ Together, we sampled 25 locations over four quarters from August 2021 to May 2022.
USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) Water Data
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) collects water data at monitoring locations across the United States using automated sensors and manual data collection. Each monitoring location has location information that details the location name and identifier, the agency responsible for data collection, and geographic information about the location. Most monitoring locations have data available in one or more of the following categories of water data: continuous data, daily data, field measurements, and discrete sample data.
_JPG.jpg)
E. Coli Monitoring in Recreational
Areas Around Pittsburgh
E. COLI MONITORING
During the warm season, Three Rivers Waterkeeper samples and reports out on E. Coli levels at popular recreation sits along the main rivers and their tributaries. These results are posted weekly on our social media and are sent out to a Swim Guide mailing list. You can learn more about Swim Guide sampling and see realtime data on our Swim Guide page. ​​
ALCOSAN SOAK ALERTS
In the city of Pittsburgh and surrounding region, Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) is the public wastewater treatment utility. ALCOSAN's Sewer Overflow Advisory Key (SOAK) and CSO Flag Alert Program are complimentary advisory programs to warn the general public of possible river contamination from CSOs. While these programs do not prohibit or discourage river recreational activities, they do caution recreational users to limit contact with river water when boating, fishing, water skiing or engaging in other river recreational activities.
Advisory Programs operate annually from April 1 until October 31 to coincide with ALCOSAN’s NPDES permit summer reporting period. The program will operate between the hours of 8 a.m. and 7 p.m., 7 days a week. If overflows occur during this timeframe, ALCOSAN will raise orange CSO flags at designated points along the waterways and will notify the public accordingly via the ALCOSAN website-based SOAK program, and our subscriber-based text/email notification program. Users will also be notified when overflows have ceased, as well as when the system returns to dry weather operation, 48 hours later. At this point, CSO flags are also lowered to indicate dry weather operation.