Massive river clean up in Pittsburgh will move to the Ohio River

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A significant river cleanup effort in Downtown Pittsburgh resulted in dozens of decades-old cars and lots of debris being removed from the water.

The organization that brought in a barge and excavator told KDKA-TV it has more work to do, and crews will be back the first week in September.

Around 120,000 pounds of cars, boats and debris were pulled from the Allegheny and Monongalia Rivers in Downtown Pittsburgh. And the cleanup crew isn't done pulling for Pittsburgh.

"There's still more to get. And if there's more after that, we're picking as much as we can," said Callie Schaser, Living Lands and Waters' communications specialist.

She didn't think crews would fill up their barge as quickly as they did over three and half days of work last week. Or that they'd drag out 60 sunken vehicles.

Schaser said this was the most cars it pulled from one area. Many are believed to be from an old parking lot on the Allegheny River, possibly washed out by floods or dumped. The vehicles pulled from the Allegheny were in the water for more than half a century.

"The cars that we were pulling were definitely from the '50s, '60s, '70s. They have been there a long time. Oh, and we got a tow truck. That was kind of cool. A station wagon, parts where you could tell the lights on the Beetle was super old," Schaser said.

Ten to 12 of the cars removed from the Monongahela River were newer and more intact.

Living Lands and Waters partnered with Three Rivers Waterkeeper to do this major cleanup, with assistance from Pittsburgh River Rescue and a group of divers from Cincinnati.

All this twisted and rusted metal is heading to a scrap yard, and Living Lands and Waters will get paid for that scrap, which will go back into the non-profit organization.

The organization is coming back right the first week after Labor Day weekend to get back to work on the Ohio River.

"Removing more boats and docks and different things that have been kind of eyesores along the Pittsburgh central area on the Ohio," Schaser said.

The organization plans to eventually float down the Ohio and do a shoreline clean-up.

"Go down the Ohio and get those big boats that we saw, 55-gallon barrels, tractor tires, things that we can't get by hand and just keep cleaning up the shorelines that way," she said.

It hopes to make another trip to Pittsburgh as early as the fall. Schaser said all this work is worth it because all the corroded junk is dangerous to people and wildlife.

"That stuff that we were was leaching into the ground and the mud, and we'd pull that up and you'd smell the fuel. It was not a good smell. But to know that the fish and wildlife are going to be healthier because of this, the water quality is going to be better," she said.