Recent water tests from Pine Creek along Route 8 turned up elevated levels of E. coli, according to the environmental monitoring group that tracks local swimming spots. The results have put a suburban stretch of the creek used for wading and dog walking, near ballfields and the Dougherty Nature Trail, back on the region's water quality radar.
Local television quickly picked up the finding after the monitoring group posted the numbers to a public swim tracker. According to CBS News Pittsburgh, KDKA reported that recent tests along the Route 8 corridor showed high E. coli counts.
Swim Guide lists an entry for the Pine Creek site, which is managed locally by Three Rivers Waterkeeper. The most recent sample there was taken on July 9 and posted July 10, and the listing notes that the location "met water quality standards less than 60% of the time." On the map, the tested stretch is pinned beside the Dougherty Nature Trail and William Dougherty Veteran's Memorial Baseball Field, a spot where people sometimes wade or let dogs splash, as listed on Swim Guide.
How the testing works and what 'high' means
Three Rivers Waterkeeper says volunteers use a rapid "R-Card" plate that incubates colonies from a 1 milliliter sample and produces next-day results, a method meant to give quick warnings about unsafe conditions. Per Three Rivers Waterkeeper, the group's R-Card checks use roughly 2 colony-forming units per 1 mL as a working cutoff on that rapid test. Federal benchmarks measure bacteria per 100 mL. The EPA's 2012 Recreational Water Quality Criteria recommend a 30 day geometric mean of 126 CFU/100 mL and a single-sample statistical threshold near 410 CFU/100 mL, as outlined in EPA's RWQC.
Why this matters for people here
Pine Creek drains a patchwork of suburbs, parks and commercial strips before it reaches the Allegheny River, so runoff after storms or sewage outfalls can quickly raise bacteria counts at the usual wading spots. The USGS maintains monitoring on Pine Creek at Grant Avenue in Etna, and that streamflow data, together with volunteer sampling, helps flag spikes tied to weather or upstream events, as shown on the USGS.
The monitoring group and Swim Guide advise avoiding contact with Pine Creek until follow up tests show counts have dropped and to obey posted advisories. Three Rivers Waterkeeper points residents to official alerts such as ALCOSAN's overflow advisories and county health notices for immediate warnings after heavy rain. For the latest updates, check Three Rivers Waterkeeper or the Pine Creek entry on Swim Guide.
