Nation IN BRIEF : PENNSYLVANIA : Fuel Spill Prompts Water Conservation

A 30-mile fuel slick created by a punctured pipeline worked its way down the Allegheny River, forcing the closure of water-intake pipes and prompting water conservation orders for about 1 million people in a dozen communities. Authorities in the affected towns in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties were monitoring the slick to determine when to shut intake valves to keep the mixture of gasoline and oil from tainting water supplies. They banned all non-essential use of water. State and county emergency agencies set up portable tanks to provide drinking and cooking water and urged residents to turn off hot water heaters in towns where water levels reached the crisis stage. The pipeline owner told officials the broken pipeline released 98,000 gallons of fuel, but Allegheny County officials said it might be as much as 500,000 gallons.