Harrisburg Water Quality

The issue in Harrisburg is ongoing. Discharges of sewage from Harrisburg’s antiquated, combined sewer and stormwater system are still having a great impact on local water quality.

The levels of E. coli and fecal coliform in the River from Harrisburg’s antiquated sewer system are alarmingly high. We conduct bacterial testing each Summer along the Susquehanna River and Paxton Creek downstream of the City’s combined sewage outfalls. We collect water samples and analyze them at an independent laboratory.

From June 1 to July 30 of 2022 we found that 56 percent of the water samples had levels of E. coli bacteria that would make the water unsafe for swimming, kayaking, or other water contact recreation, including just downstream from the outfall leading from the State Capitol Complex and Governor’s Residence and at City Island Park Beach. These results violate both state and federal water quality standards. Those findings were worse than the 52 percent of samples unsafe for swimming in the summer of 2021, along with previous years 2020 & 2019. 720 sewer overflows occurred in Harrisburg in June, July and August of 2022. Sewage discharges occurred during 4 out of every 10 days within that time. 300% is the average increase in E. coli when samples were collected within two days of an upstream sewage spill versus times when no spills occurred.

PRESS RELEASE 2/13/23: Feds Give Harrisburg PA a Deadline for Solution to Chronic Sewage Overflows

Read It Here: 2/13/23 MODIFIED PARTIAL CONSENT DECREE

Read It Here: 3/10/23 LSRA Consent Decree Comments

Bacteria Levels in the Susquehanna River at Pennsylvania’s State Capital – LSRA 2022

Read More about Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO)

Combined sewer overflow (CSO) has been a prolonged issue in the City of Harrisburg. We focus on environmental justice as it relates to water pollution affecting our communities, especially underprivileged and underrepresented communities. The communities surrounding the City of Harrisburg are largely comprised of individuals of color, with over 75% of the population identifying as black, Hispanic, Latino or Asian. Everyone deserves the right to swim, fish, and otherwise recreate on these waters.

The City of Harrisburg’s combined sewer system has not been properly maintained in decades. The work being done currently by Capital Region Water is maintenance that should have been performed on an ongoing basis decades ago. Stormwater fees must be paid to CSO reducing projects, not deferred maintenance. Also, the state isn’t paying their fair share in stormwater fees. Demand they do and Act Now!

Capital Region Water’s plans to achieve compliance does not appropriately address CSO. The public is being charged a stormwater fee over 20 years but all of that money isn’t going to actually fix the problem. We need to see more investments being made by CRW as they have a legal obligation to resolve their violations and make respectable progress in eliminating CSOs.

In December 2021, a U.S. District Court Judge criticized the years of delays in efforts by Pennsylvania and EPA to stop chronic sewage overflows in the state capital and granted a motion by the Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper to intervene in a 2015 lawsuit filed by EPA and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) over hundreds of millions of gallons of sewage and stormwater released every year into the Susquehanna River.