Diluted Spill Creeps Down Ohio River; Water Restrictions Eased
A diluted fuel spill crept down the Ohio River on Tuesday as emergency officials lifted mandatory water restrictions in most towns along the Allegheny River.
The oily trail was more than 40 miles long, stretching from south of Freeport, where about 200,000 gallons of diesel fuel and gas leaked from a ruptured pipeline Friday night, to south of Pittsburgh.
Most communities lifted water restrictions for hundreds of thousands of residents as pumping stations reopened their intake valves along the Allegheny River. But several towns, including Brackenridge and Tarentum, continued water usage limits.
“It’s definitely a relief,” said John Edgar, controller of the Wilkinsburg-Penn Joint Water Authority, which on Tuesday lifted mandatory conservation orders for 43,000 people.
John Kaus, Allegheny County’s deputy director for emergency management, said he doubted that water conservation would be needed in Ohio River towns, saying they could treat the water with added carbon.
Pittsburgh Mayor Sophie Masloff urged the city’s 500,000 residents to continue voluntary water conservation, saying contaminants still were flowing down the river.
The oil slick was expected to take four days to move through the Pittsburgh area, where the Allegheny joins the Monongahela to form the Ohio River.
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