The discovery of 14 dead ducklings in the Highland Park Reservoir has prompted the Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority to temporarily stop drawing from that water source, officials said Friday.

The ducklings have been sent to the state's diagnostic lab at Penn State University for examination, said authority Executive Director Greg Tutsock.

Preliminary tests indicate they died of malnutrition, not disease. The reservoir will not be tapped until final results are in, probably within days.

He said that even without the reservoir, the authority has ample water for its customers.

Also Friday, the authority released an audit that found that it finished the year with a $2.3 million surplus.

The authority raised rates in February. Mr. Tutsock said that in spite of the surplus, the increase was necessary because the authority faces costs related to reducing sewer overflows, and wants to build up its surplus so it can minimize the amount of borrowing it needs to do to complete that work.