The River Alert Information Network (RAIN) celebrates its five year anniversary in 2014, and entered a new era with the launch of its new website on September 3.
The PA League of Women Voters Water Resources Education Network congratulates RAIN for its tenacity and is proud to have been a small partner in the effort.
In looking toward the future, it helps to reflect to see how far we've come. We asked RAIN's chair, Gina Cyprych, to provide us with a bit of history and an update about the organization. Gina also serves as the Environmental Compliance Coordinator at Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority.
Here is her article--
Historically, the Ohio, Allegheny and Monongahela River valleys have been a region of famous industrial activity. Residents of the area settled here because of those work opportunities, ultimately finding themselves forced to live in and around the pollution their industries caused.
For a century, our three major rivers were highly polluted and we suffered under a legacy of adverse environmental impact: acid mine drainage, brownfields, oil spills and industrial wastes.
Today, these same rivers are cleaner than they have been in a century. However, we still need to be alert to events that threaten the health of our rivers that carry drinking water for more than two million people in the region.
In 2009, high levels of total dissolved solids (TDS) had been detected in the Monongahela River and stakeholders agreed: we needed to monitor. The River Alert Information Network (RAIN) stepped in to offer oversight and to inform the public of the condition of regional water sources.
Working with agencies, academia and water systems, RAIN unveiled a system monitoring water temperature, conductivity and pH levels at 11 remote locations along the Monongahela River and its tributaries.
RAIN added two more water quality monitoring sites - one each on the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers - bringing the total number of monitoring sites in the RAIN network to 13 by the end of 2009.
Five years later, RAIN has grown from a collaborative effort of 33 Pennsylvania water utilities, to a network of 51 public drinking water systems, including 10 in the West Virginia Monongahela Basin area. The number of monitoring sites has grown to 24 throughout western Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia.
With technical assistance from area universities, the PA DEP's and WV Department of Health and Human Resources' Source Water Protection sections and RAIN member water systems, RAIN has built a state of the art monitoring and alert system that is a major asset to the region.
RAIN recently launched its new modernized website which features an interactive map so the public can access and see the water quality data RAIN collects from its monitoring sites in near real-time.
We have an alliance with Penn's Corner Conservancy Charitable Trust, a nonprofit in southwestern PA that specializes in conservation projects. Penn's Corner lends us conservation, planning and public policy guidance and much more.
As a promoter and facilitator of partnerships, Penn's Corner works with RAIN to identify tools and other resources to help RAIN and its stakeholders meet its goals to protect source water and enhance water quality.
As Chair of RAIN and Environmental Compliance Coordinator for the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, I am proud of RAIN's success story and its importance to Pennsylvania and the entire Ohio Watershed.
Access to clean and safe drinking water is an essential ingredient to healthy, vibrant, and prosperous communities. Two million residents rely on the Allegheny, Monongahela, Youghiogheny, Shenango, Beaver, and Ohio rivers as their source of drinking water.
These important rivers also make the region's industrial and manufacturing strength possible. Industrialization, urban and suburban development can threaten clean water when spills or runoff enter the waters. This threat-along with increasing cost of water treatment-makes it imperative for our region to rely on innovation and collaboration.
To learn more, visit the River Alert Information Network website and our Facebook page at RAIN Matters.
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(Reprinted from the September edition of Water Policy News is now available from the PA League of Women Voters Water Resources Education Network. Click Here to sign up for your own copy.)