Safe boating begins at docks, summit participants are told

Kayakers’ deaths prompt safety conversation

Recreational boaters need to take boating courses, heed signs and wear life jackets.

That was the message at a summit Friday of Pittsburgh-area river authorities, recreation groups and federal agencies, including the Army Corps of Engineers and the Coast Guard to discuss water safety on the rivers.

“Just because it's a beautiful day doesn't mean the river’s safe,” said regional Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Jeff Hawk.

A brainstorming session after a series of speakers called on authorities to make stronger efforts to publicize river conditions, add more signs near dams and emphasize safety education at recreational docks.

The talk was prompted by the

deaths of two kayakers, Brittany Evans, 25, of West View, and Helene Brandy, 25, of Coraopolis, who got caught in the pull of a fixedcrest dam's hydraulic boil while on the Ohio River May 21. These “weir” or “low head” dams are difficult for boaters to see.

In the days after the deaths, Ms. Brandy’s family questioned the effectiveness of warning signs in the area of the Dashields Locks and Dam near Sewickley. The two women snapped photos as they kayaked not long before being swept over the dam, possibly unaware of the danger.

On Friday, John Lloyd, commander of the Corps of Engineers’ Pittsburgh district, said there were three layers of warning before boaters reach the dam. The first is a “warning zone” with mooring cells anchored one mile and three-quartersof-a-mile upriver marked “Dam, Danger, Lock.”

The second is a “danger zone,” denoted by a sign that reads “Danger Dam Ahead” on the top of a caisson anchored to the riverbed about 2,000 feet above the dam.

Then there’s a “restricted zone” of 17 pillar buoys warning “Keep Out, Dam” with triangle danger symbols. They are stretched across the river at intervals of about 300 feet. There are also more buoys diagonally across the river, pointing boats to head toward the lock chambers.

John Dilla, the locks and dams chief of the local Corps of Engineers, said the corps is working to increase the size of restricted zones near dams and to increase the number of warning buoys.

“Don't push your luck,” he said. “Luck runs out. Once it starts happening, you're out of time. If it says ‘keep out,’ keep out, period.”

But it’s education that Dilla feels will make a difference. He said boaters should always be aware of their surroundings and know the waterway they’re traveling.

And David Pordurgiel, navigation chairman of the Waterways Association of Pittsburgh, emphasized that awareness should come from every possible angle.

“People have to be cognizant of their surroundings,” he said. “But awareness has to start at the docks. You have to force it on people and teach them that when you’re traveling down a river, you’re traveling down a living body of water.”