Achieving Consent Order Compliance: Comprehensive Mini-Basin Planning and Rehabilitation to Eliminate Sanitary Sewer Overflows and Reduce Hydraulic Overloads

The Susquehanna Township Authority (STA), a tributary community to Capital Region Water (formerly the Harrisburg Authority) owns and operates over 130 miles of separate sanitary sewer facilities divided into four (4) drainage basins, along with seven (7) pump stations. The original portions of the system, many of which still exist, were constructed the late 1960's. Extensive infiltration and inflow, a common problem in aged infrastructure, leads to system capacity issues, additional costs, and ultimately sanitary sewer overflows (SSO). In the case of the Susquehanna Township Authority, SSO's came frequently enough that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection issued a Notice of Violation for hydraulically overloaded conditions in the two largest (Paxton Creek and Asylum Run) of the Authority's four main drainage basins. With this notice, the Authority was no longer able to connect additional growth until a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) was prepared and Consent Order and Agreement (COA) negotiated. The Authority prepared a CAP that included a comprehensive rehabilitation plan for the two affected drainage basins, based on wet weather flow measurement and sub-basin prioritization. The CAP was approved in 2013 and the COA in 2019. The COA requires STA eliminate all overflows in the Paxton Creek and Asylum Run Basins by June 30, 2024.