Soon after the Elizabeth Dam in the Monongahela River started getting demolished in the summer of 2024, Pennsylvania American Water Co.’s big water-treatment plant downriver in Elrama noticed a higher-than-expected drop in the water levels.
The E.H. Aldrich Treatment plant draws raw water from the Mon and then treats it for eventual drinking water for customers south of Pittsburgh. The plant is used to changes in the water levels in the Mon River depending on the season. But the dam’s removal changed water levels more than expected, leading to navigation changes on the river. At the Elrama plant, the water levels were down more than 3 feet.
“For our intake, it made it a little more difficult,” said Timothy Patterson, superintendent of treatment at the E.H. Aldrich Plant.
The plant’s pumps that pull water from the river became less efficient, drawing in less water and more of the debris and silt that needs to get filtered out before the water can be used for drinking. So the plant needed to put into operation more pumps to gain enough water out of the river and then more work to sift through the silt and debris.
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