Hydration station coming to GAP’s Boston trailhead

By Christine Haines

chaines@yourrmvi.com

A water line installed Thursday along the Great Allegheny Passage at the Boston trailhead will be used for a hydration station.

The hydration station will be installed next spring in time for the 2021 bicycling season, according to Gary Lobaugh, external affairs manager for Pennsylvania- American Water. It will feature a water fountain, water bottle filling station and pet bowl filler.

“It will also have a cleaning hose attachment so if you want to wash off your bike or clean dirt off of yourself, you can do so,” Lobaugh said. “It’s one of the few units of this type along the trail.”

Lobaugh said the Mon/Yough Trail Council was selected as a 2020 American Water Charitable Foundation Keep Communities Flowing grant recipient. The M/YTC received approximately $19,000 to install a hydration station at its Boston trailhead. Hufnagle Excavating of Finleyville donated its services to the M/YTC for the line installation Thursday.

“This is one of 12 projects the foundation granted this year in eight states. The grants totaled about $150,000,” Lobaugh said.

Pennsylvania American Water’s commitment to the trail goes beyond writing a check.

“We have a group of employees out of our Elizabeth operation center who volunteer along the trail. One is a steward of the trail and saw the opportunity for this needed amenity,” Lobaugh said. “We’d like to think that this amenity will be an incentive for bikers to stop in Boston and take advantage of the shops there.”

The Keep Communities Flowing grants go to projects that fit with one of American Water’s core focus areas of Water and the Environment, Water and Healthy Living, Environmental Education and Community Sustainability.

“Funding provided through the Keep Communities Flowing grant program supports water-inspired and environmentally focused programs and projects that positively impact American Water communities and surrounding ecosystems,” said Carrie Williams, president of the American Water Charitable Foundation. “We are proud to offer these types of funding opportunities to further American Water’s ongoing commitment to being a good neighbor and steward of the environment.” 

The M/YTC section of the Great Allegheny Passage through the Boston area receives close to 70,000 visits a year.

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