Greater Harrisburg's Community Magazine

CRW plans meetings to offer information, answer questions about proposed stormwater fee

The new bumpouts along 3rd Street are designed to reduce stormwater runoff.

Capital Region Water will hold three community events to offer information on its proposed stormwater fee and to answer residents’ questions.

Last month, CRW unveiled a plan to impose a stormwater fee starting next year that would impact its Harrisburg customers.

Under the proposal, most residential customers would pay a new stormwater fee of $72 a year, or $6.15 a month. Commercial customers could potentially pay much more, depending upon the amount of impervious surface area on their properties.

CRW is under a “partial consent decree” with the federal Environmental Protection Agency to slash the amount of untreated pollutants flowing into the area’s streams and the Susquehanna River.

As a result, CRW expects to spend some $315 million over 20-plus years to come into compliance. Planned improvements include everything from facility and infrastructure upgrades to installing porous pavement and greening 177 additional acres of land.

CRW has said that residential customers’ wastewater fees would rise less slowly with the new stormwater fee, as the stormwater improvements have been accounted for as part of the wastewater portion of the monthly CRW bill.

“The meeting format allows residents to move through educational stations to learn more about the challenges of stormwater pollution, regulatory obligations, and solutions, including a new rate structure to fairly fund stormwater expenses,” according to a statement from CRW. “The final station will allow participants to comment on the proposal and plan.”

The meetings are:

  • Tuesday, July 30, 6 p.m. to 7:30 pm
    Lincoln Administration Building, 1601 State St.
  • Tuesday, Aug. 6, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
    National Night Out at Camp Curtin Academy, 2900 N. 6th St.
  • Thursday, Sept. 12, 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
    Cloverly Heights Park, 18th and Pemberton streets

For more information about Capital Region Water, visit their website.

Continue Reading