This Saturday: Family Friendly Event to Celebrate 50th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act

PITTSBURGH, PA (PittsburghNewsWire.com) — The Pittsburgh Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and friends are pleased to invite the public to Pittsburgh’s first ever Clean Water Festival, being held from 11:00 am  to 3:00 pm on Saturday, October 15, 2022 at the Millvale Riverfront Park in Millvale, PA. Free and open to the public, the event will include food trucks, exhibitors, artist activities, presentations from water experts, Native American dance performance, water related activities for all ages, and a free commemorative t-shirt giveaway to the first 200 attendees.More details about the Clean Water Festival, including a full list of sponsors and partners, can be found at https://www.asce-pgh.org/CWA50th.

 

The festival will commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the federal Clean Water Act that was enacted in 1972 “to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters.”  As part of the festival a riverfront trail bike parade hosted by Friends of the Riverfront from Millvale to Point State Park will be held. Later that evening, Three Rivers Waterkeeper will host a sunset cruise of Pittsburgh’s iconic three rivers.

 

The planning of this festival was a collaborative effort between representatives from regional water organizations including the Pittsburgh Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Friends of the Riverfront, UpstreamPgh, and Allegheny CleanWays among others.

 

According to Tom Batroney, President of the ASCE Pittsburgh Section, “ASCE Pittsburgh and our partners feel it’s important to commemorate the passage of the Clean Water Act (CWA), technically called the Federal Water Pollution Control Amendments of 1972, which put the nation on a new path toward achievement of improved water quality at a time when pollution was seemingly at its worst in this country.”

 

He continued, “On October 18, 1972, the U.S. Congress – in a strongly bipartisan manner – overrode the veto of President Nixon by a vote of 247 to 23 in the House and 52 to 12 in the Senate to enact this transformative legislation. Prior to the Clean Water Act, clean water laws at the federal and state levels were inconsistent, and progress towards cleaning up our nation’s water from polluters was slow because there were no common sets of goals, objectives, guidelines, or dedicated funding.” 

 

Per Batroney, “In total, there are approximately 3.5 million miles of rivers and streams in the United States. To put this into perspective, if stretched from end-to-end, our nation’s rivers and streams would be long enough to make a trip from the Earth to the Moon almost fifteen times. So, as we approach the 50th anniversary of the CWA, the ASCE Pittsburgh Section and our partners launched the Clean Water Festival because we believe that it’s important to reflect on the purpose of the legislation, to celebrate what we have collectively achieved through this forward-looking and far-reaching law, and to consider what remains to be done to ensure clean water for current and future generations.”

 

Saturday’s Clean Water Festival will feature a keynote presentation from the Director of the Pittsburgh Water Collaboratory, Dr. Emily M. Elliott, who has a particular interest in evaluating how infrastructure influences nutrient delivery to urban streams.

 

Attendees will also have opportunities to engage in community-building panels, discussions, and participate in hands-on activities with a diverse group of academia, government, non-profit, and private sector water professionals from organizations such as ALCOSAN, Friends of the Riverfront, Allegheny CleanWays, UpstreamPGH, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the Pittsburgh Army Corps of Engineers, Three Rivers Waterkeeper, Allegheny CleanWays, the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, and many others.

 

Batroney added “We’re excited to say that over 30 regional partners will be hosting water themed interactive booths. There will be something for attendees of all ages who come out to celebrate with us. We anticipate a very memorable day at the waterfront from start to finish, and clean water for years to come!”

 

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ABOUT ASCE: Founded in 1852, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) (www.ASCE.org) represents more than 140,000 members of the civil engineering profession worldwide and is America’s oldest national engineering society. ASCE’s Mission is to provide essential value to our members and partners, advance civil engineering, and serve the public good. In carrying out that mission, ASCE advances technology, encourages lifelong learning, promotes professionalism and the profession, develops civil engineer leaders, and advocates infrastructure and environmental stewardship.  To learn more , visit the ASCE Pittsburgh Section website at: www.asce-pgh.org.