The Allegheny County Sanitary Authority is advising people to stay out of local waterways for 48 hours after a power outage at its wastewater treatment plant.

A “full” power outage at the plant happened on Friday between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., the authority said in a news release. ALCOSAN could not process wastewater during the two-hour outage, leading to the plant’s wet well filling to capacity. This led to a discharge into the river, according to ALCOSAN. 

Per standard procedures, ALCOSAN said the public should limit contact with river water when boating, fishing, water skiing, or participating in any other recreational activities in the river for 48 hours.

The authority said Duquesne Light was contacted and restored power to the facility. 

“All partnering water agencies have been notified, as well as state regulatory authorities including the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP),” Friday night’s press release said. 

ALCOSAN said it will continue to monitor the situation and provide more updates over the weekend if additional information becomes available.   

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