The Watershed » Overview
Overview
Nine Mile Run and the Watershed
Nine Mile Run is a small stream that flows through Pittsburgh's East End. If you've ever driven through Wilkinsburg, Edgewood, Swissvale, or the east side of Squirrel Hill, you've driven over it. Of course, you don't need to cross a bridge to drive over Nine Mile Run because it is almost entirely underground.
Although unhealthy, this is not an unusual condition for an urban stream. At the turn of the 20th century, open water was not viewed as an asset to the community. Streams were often seen as a means to transport trash and sewage away from homes. They were also viewed as hindrances to the "progress" of city building and were more often than not, piped underground.
Nine Mile Run was put in underground pipes, or culverts, starting in the early 20th century. However, because the stream runs through Frick Park, about a third of the stream was left above ground. Today the stream emerges from its culverts in Frick Park just off Braddock Avenue. It then flows through the park to the Monongahela River. That's a 2.2 mile stretch of open water, a nearly unheard of length for a city the size of Pittsburgh.
The 6.5 square mile Nine Mile Run watershed includes the boroughs of Edgewood, Swissvale, Wilkinsburg, and part of the City of Pittsburgh. It is home to close to 48,000 people as well as 250 plant species, 22 different mammals, and 189 types of birds. Water from the Nine Mile Run Watershed flows into the Monongahela, then the Ohio, then the Mississippi River, and eventually reaches the Gulf of Mexico.