To support their ongoing efforts to reduce the amount of untreated stormwater flowing into the Susquehanna River, officials at Harrisburg’s water and sewer authority will use a $13 million state loan to install green infrastructure throughout the city.
Officials at the municipal authority, Capital Region Water, announced their plans Thursday, explaining the low-interest loan from the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority will help to offset costs related to a large-scale stormwater reduction plan currently underway in the city.
"On behalf of Capital Region Water’s Board of Directors, we wish to express our gratitude for the financial assistance provided through PENNVEST,” Capital Region Water CEO Charlotte Katzenmoyer said in a statement. "This funding will help Capital Region Water protect public health and the environment while offsetting the financial burden placed on our customers.”
Green infrastructure is a term used to describe plant-based additions, such as rain gardens, which can be installed throughout the city to capture stormwater before it makes its way into the local sewer system.
Reducing the amount of stormwater entering Harrisburg’s sewers is important because much of the city sits atop a combined system.
A combined system allows both sanitary sewage — the stuff that’s flushed down toilets and washed down sinks and bathtubs — and stormwater to pass through the same pipes and treatment facility.
The system can handle only so much water, so during periods of heavy rainfall the pipes become filled to capacity, and that’s when a process called "combined sewer overflow” kicks in, spewing sewage-contaminated runoff directly into the Susquehanna River and nearby Paxton Creek.
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Combined sewer overflows are considered an environmental hazard, and state and federal regulators have mandated that Capital Region Water officials work to eliminate the discharge of raw sewage into local waterways.
To do so officials at Capital Region Water have developed a $315 million, 20-year plan called City Beautiful H2O, which they expect will reduce the frequency of combined sewer overflows by 80 percent.
That plan includes replacing failing infrastructure and increasing the system’s capacity, as well as the introduction of green infrastructure throughout the city.
“Green stormwater infrastructure incorporates nature-based strategies to better manage stormwater and prevent excess stormwater from overloading Capital Region Water’s combined sewer system,” officials said in their Thursday announcement.
The $13 million PENNVEST loan, which comes with a 1 percent interest rate, will help to create about 50 “greened acres” in Harrisburg over a five-year period, Capital Region Water officials said.
“The borrowing rate of 1 percent means that Capital Region Water’s customers will save $3.5 million over the term of this loan compared to traditional bond financing,” Katzenmoyer said.
Cost saving is vital in a low-income community like Harrisburg, officials have said, when explaining that the city’s ratepayers cannot fund the drastic stormwater reduction plans expected by federal and state regulators.
The planned installation of green infrastructure should capture between 20 and 40 million gallons of stormwater each year, officials said.
The first of Capital Region Water’s green infrastructure projects are expected to begin next year in the city’s South Allison Hill and Camp Curtin neighborhoods.
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