Consequently, one of the city’s earliest industries was boatbuilding. On 10 of those occasions, they poured more than 500 percent of their permitted limits for zinc, aluminum, nitrites, styrene, and xylene into the Monongahela River. The results are part of the fourth year of the Three Rivers Quest (3RQ) study, one of the most comprehensive surveys in the region In 1811 the first steamboat was built in Pittsburgh. The river is 981 miles long and flows northwest out of Pittsburgh and through or borders six states. 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. The Pittsburgh Water & … As a result, the Ohio River is the source of drinking water for more than three million people. The Pittsburgh Water and Sewage Authority (PWSA) pleaded guilty Wednesday to eight federal charges for violating the Clean Water Act. 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”. Boat Building and the Port of Pittsburgh. Gas lamps sometimes had to be lit during the day. Photos Of Pittsburgh's Air Pollution: 1940s Vs. Today. 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. 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. To help, conservationists spent years working on rebuilding habitats and cleaning the rivers before finally reintroducing river otters to the Pittsburgh area in 1982. Back to table of contents. Three rivers, the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio, cross through Pittsburgh's metropolitan area. 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. By 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. What Pittsburgh Looked Like When It Decided It Had a Pollution Problem Photographs from the 1940s of the Steel City as it began to address its notoriously smoky air. WATER POLLUTION Pittsburgh agency admits pumping sludge into Allegheny River Published: Thursday, November 19, 2020. Coal fumes in the 1940s blotted out the sun. 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.. 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