The Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) continues to actively review the events on Friday, March 6, when an outage of all wastewater treatment plant power caused the wet well to reach capacity, resulting in a discharge into the river.

While it was previously reported that three electrical utility feeds serving the facility were offline, further inspection shows that two feeds were out at the time of the incident. We are continuing to investigate to understand the situation regarding the third power source. ALCOSAN is working closely with Duquesne Light Company to further review the circumstances.

As part of the debrief process, ALCOSAN and DLC will evaluate operational protocols including notifications and implement measures designed to help prevent future situations.  

 “For decades, Duquesne Light has been a reliable partner when it comes to providing wastewater treatment services to Allegheny County,” said Operations and Maintenance Director Doug Jackson. “We value their partnership and expertise as we work together to improve operations during non-typical events such as this.” 

As previously stated, as of Friday night, wastewater treatment plant operations were stabilized and all systems returned to normal operating conditions. ALCOSAN operations staff will continue monitoring treatment processes and conducting system checks.

We will provide updates as additional information becomes available.