INVESTING IN YORK’S WASTEWATER SYSTEM TO CREATE ECONOMIC STABILITY, LONG-TERM INFRASTRUCTURE SOLUTIONS AND PROVIDE THE CITY $235.3 MILLION TO INVEST IN MUNICIPAL SERVICES
Pennsylvania American Water is proud to serve as our state’s largest water and wastewater service operator. For 135 years, we have provided water and wastewater services across Pennsylvania and currently serve 2.3 million Pennsylvanians in 418 communities – including in York County.
York’s wastewater system serves more than 45,000 customer connections, including approximately 14,000 direct customers in the city and bulk service to indirect customers in the neighboring Townships of Spring Garden, Manchester, West Manchester, York and Springettsbury and the Boroughs of North York and West York.
PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT
Communities across Pennsylvania all want the same thing – reliable, safe and affordable water services. Residents should be able to turn on the tap and expect high quality drinking water or flush the toilet and know that their community’s wastewater is being managed and treated in a way that protects Pennsylvania’s treasured rivers and streams.
However, continuing to provide safe, reliable wastewater service to its customers became increasingly challenging for the city due to a decline in its customer base, aging infrastructure, and lack of funding for maintenance. As a result, numerous permit violations led to a consent order by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Considerable investment into the wastewater system was necessary to make the upgrades needed to address these violations – investments that the city was not in a position to make. The city, too, was facing financial hardship with a $14 million deficit in its budget due to increasing pension and health care costs.
IMPROVING INFRASTRUCTURE
In 2020, York began a proactive search for solutions to these challenges and agreed to sell its wastewater system. In April 2021, the city entered into an agreement to sell its system for $235.3 million to Pennsylvania American Water, citing that the proposed sale was important to improve the city’s infrastructure, provide resilient and responsive municipal services, and support the city’s future.
As part of the acquisition agreement, Pennsylvania American Water committed to invest approximately $17.5 million in wastewater system improvements, including wastewater treatment process improvements, technology and control system upgrades and wastewater collection system rehabilitation projects.
Within one year of the acquisition, which closed in June 2022, 40 projects in the system were already in progress or had been completed. The improvements helped keep the plant within PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) permit regulations, saved on operating costs, improved security and quality of service, and — at the same time — reduced environmental impacts on the local watershed.
As of June 2023, Pennsylvania American Water has already remedied 10 of the identified consent order projects, with three more nearing completion and two expected to be completed within the next five years.
INVESTING IN YOUR COMMUNITY
In 2023, we invested $688 million to upgrade our water and wastewater systems, supporting the communities we service across the Commonwealth. Over the past five years, we’ve funded more than $2 billion in capital construction, and we expect to invest $450 to $600 million annually statewide over the next several years.
In York County, Pennsylvania American Water committed to donating $50,000 to nonprofit organizations serving the City of York and its residents. Within one year, we donated more than $25,000 to local community partners including Watershed Alliance of York, Byrnes Health Education Center, York County Economic Alliance, York County Envirothon, Rainbow Rose Center, York Revolution, York City Police, DreamWrights Center, Junior Achievement and Better York.
Separately, the American Water Charitable Foundation awarded a $25,000 grant to the York City Parks Conservancy through an annual grant program to support its efforts to transform York’s parks into safe, healthy destinations for residents to enjoy for generations.
Our investment into the York Wastewater Facility has helped address compliance issues and improve wastewater quality in the York community. This investment reaffirms our commitment to clean, safe, reliable water services for all of our customers.
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We believe that safe, effective, and reliable wastewater treatment is a vital service. Being a good steward of your water – including what goes down the drain – is just one more way We Keep Life Flowing right here in York County.