Susquehanna Riverkeeper Joins Talks To End Harrisburg Sewage Overflows

Annapolis MD

18 February, 2022

5:27 PM

Description

By Ad Crable, the Chesapeake Bay Journal Feb 8, 2022 Expressing impatience at the lack of progress, a federal judge has inserted the Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper into negotiations between state and federal regulators and the city of Harrisburg on stopping raw sewage from flowing into the Susquehanna River at the capital city. U.S. Middle District Judge Christopher Connor in December granted the group's request to be a player in negotiations between the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Harrisburg Capital Region Water. The riverkeeper organization is represented by the Environmental Integrity Project, a Washington DC-based nonprofit that seeks the enforcement of environmental laws. "We will now have a seat at the table in discussions to demand an end to this sewage nightmare and protect the great Susquehanna River," said Ted Evgeniadis, the Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper. The EPA and DEP sued the Harrisburg water utility in 2015 to seek a workable plan that would end the annual flow of hundreds of millions of gallons of untreated sewage into the Susquehanna during heavy rainfalls. Like many older cities in the U.S., Harrisburg has a combined sewage and stormwater piping system that can't handle high flows. As a result, untreated sewage mixes with stormwater runoff and flows directly into waterways. A report that made international headlines in 2020 revealed that the Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper had tested water from Harrisburg's waterfront and public swimming area and found levels of fecal bacteria unsafe for water recreation. Some sewage overflows were traced to the Governor's Mansion and DEP headquarters. The group sampled the Susquehanna at Harrisburg again in 2021 and found the bacteria at similarly unsafe levels. The Chesapeake Bay Journal is a nonprofit news organization covering environmental issues in the Bay region. Sign up for a free subscription at BayJournal.com.