Fracking Waste In A Landfill Again Poses A Monongahela Pollution Problem

"On a rainy morning, Mike Frederick showed off the Belle Vernon Municipal Authority’s sewage treatment plant, about 30 miles south of Pittsburgh. 

“This distribution box is where all the sewage comes in,” said Frederick, an operator at the plant, pointing at a concrete basin where murky liquid poured in through a pipe. 

The tanks next to the basin were roiling with wastewater being treated; the last of these was a UV chamber used for disinfection. 

“That’s what kills your bacteria, your fecal…whatever you want to call it,” said Frederick. He pointed to a pipe, discharging clear water into another basin. “And then it goes right out here, down into a pipe that goes into your outfall into the river.”"

Reid Frazier reports for Allegheny Front October 6, 2025.