Panther Hollow Lake (100 year old constructed reservoir) located in Pittsburgh, PA, is fed by two streams (Phipps Run and Panther Hollow). The surrounding area is an urban park, Schenley Park, with bridges, pedestrian trails, and roads. Directly upstream of the park is dense urban infrastructure. Carnegie Mellon University and University of Pittsburgh are within walking distance as is a golf course. Phipps Conservatory, and several residential neighborhoods. The Pittsburgh Parks Conservatory is planning a restoration of Panther Hollow Lake. Our work in this area has focused on baseline bacterial monitoring to assess stream and lake water quality. We have been testing numerous citizen-monitoring kits as well as developing a GIS-based watershed model for this system. This urban watershed offers a fascinating natural laboratory for our graduate and undergraduate students.
A similar project is just beginning in Pine Creek Watershed, just north of Pittsburgh, in collaboration with 3RWW, US EPA and PaDEP.
- Map of Area
- Map with sampling points
- Possible Water Quality Impacts
- Pipes Monitored
- Results Spring 2006
- Results Summer 2006
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Alan Eaton meaures chemical parameters.
Elena Goldstein records condition and location of the stream.
Carnegie Mellon University with participating faculty from four colleges and eight departments
