A new state water study shows increasing quality in area rivers — including a 90 percent decline of metals in the lower Allegheny River in the past two decades.
However, the state Department of Environmental Protection and Clean Water Action of Pittsburgh, a longtime environmental group that fights for water quality, say that there is still much work to be done.
The water quality report card, known as Pennsylvania's 2014 Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report, examines the quality of the state's rivers, streams and lakes every two years.
“The big picture here is that water quality is in general improving, but there are still problems,” said Gary Walters, chief of DEP's water quality standards and assessment section.
Myron Arnowitt, director of Clean Water Action, said, “There are still pollution sources from the coal and gas industry that have to properly dispose of their waste.”
This year's report highlights improvements in the Monongahela and lower Allegheny River.
The report singled out pathogens, including E. coli, in Pine Creek, a tributary of the Allegheny River that winds through the North Hills to Etna.
The stream is designated as impaired for recreational use. Also listed as impaired is a section of the Allegheny near Warren, in northwestern Pennsylvania because of pollution from a waste water treatment plant.

DEP officially lifted the Monongahela River's status from impaired drinking water this year because of improved water quality.
Sulfates from acid mine drainage caused much of the contamination, according to Walters.
The state and local watershed groups have been working for years to clean up acid mine drainage, with more to be done.
But there is progress to report: With readings from a monitoring station in Harrison, the Allegheny River had 90 percent less metals — lead, iron, copper, aluminum and zinc — from 1992 to 2012, according to the study.
Walters said that the metals likely came from industrial discharges and mine drainage.
“This goes along with an increase in alkalinity in the water, which is good, and is indicative of the cleaning up of acid mine drainage,” he said.
Metals have been a big problem for a long time on the Allegheny River, according to Arnowitt.
“Certainly, mining is a big contributor and you see these metals pop up in drinking water tests,” he said. “There's a lot of concern that still needs to be tackled.
“There has not been enough funding to address some of the problems, especially the pollution from the abandoned mines,” he said.

DEP RESTORING WATERWAYS

Since 2012, DEP has awarded more than $5.1 million in Growing Greener Grants, Surface Mining Conservation and Reclamation Grants, AMD Set Aside Program Grants and EPA Section 319 Grants to projects in Allegheny, Armstrong, Butler and Westmoreland counties, according to Amanda Witman, DEP spokeswoman.
Mary Ann Thomas is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-226-4691 or mthomas@tribweb.com.


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