Sewer Authority Reaches $82 Million Deal With EPA

A wastewater authority in Pennsylvania reached an $82 million deal with the federal government after it allegedly released eight million gallons of raw sewage into the Susquehanna River and Paxton Creek over six years.

"Following years of inspections and investigations into the management of waste and storm water in the Susquehanna River and Paxton Creek, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reached a settlement agreement with the City of Harrisburg and Capital Region Water that will take an aggressive approach to repairing the problems," the Pennsylvania Record reported.

Under the agreement, Capital Region Water must take major steps to improve its operations, including upgrades at its water treatment plant.

"The upgrades will significantly reduce discharges of nitrogen pollution from the plant, which is currently the largest point-source of nitrogen pollution to the Susquehanna River," the agency continued. Capital Region Water must also come up with a plan for decreasing overflows in the future," the EPA announced.

Shannon Williams is the chief executive at Capital Region Water, the municipal authority that oversees the sewers, according to Fox 43.

“We now have other ways to handle these overflows and we want to minimize those,” Williams said, per Fox 43. “That’s the reason why Capital Region Water has worked out a settlement with the EPA to spend $82 million dollars upgrading the wastewater treatment plant and repair the pipes."

“One of the ways we can [improve operations] is what’s called green-store water infrastructure. That’s using natural devices like gardens and trees, beautification really, to capture that rainwater before it gets into our pipes,” Williams added.