Water filter service in Harrisburg, PA

What is in the water in Harrisburg

Harrisburg is served by Capital Region Water .

Source water: The DeHart Reservoir in Clarks Valley, about 20 miles north east of the city, whose watershed is almost entirely forest. The reservoir is five miles long and holds six billion gallons, sitting within an 8,200 acre property in northern Dauphin County that also includes 7,500 acres of forestland. Around eight million gallons a day serves more than 60,000 residents and businesses in Harrisburg, part of Penbrook Borough, and Susquehanna, Swatara and Lower Paxton townships. If you live in one of those townships rather than the city itself, this is still the system that supplies you and its report is the one that applies. Reported by Capital Region Water for 2024.

The Susquehanna River is held as a secondary source rather than a routine one, used for a short period each year so that the utility can prove the backup actually works before it is needed. Blended Susquehanna and DeHart water is pumped and treated for about ten days annually as a resilience test against drought or emergency. That is a genuinely good practice and it has one consequence worth knowing at home: for that fortnight the water reaching your tap comes from a large river rather than a forested reservoir, and river water carries different mineral content and can taste different. A change in taste during that window is expected rather than a fault.

These figures describe the distribution system. Your own tap can differ, and for lead it very likely does.

We do not yet hold a sourced figure for every field on this page. Where something is missing it is left blank rather than estimated, because an unsourced number here would look like information.

Buildings and plumbing in Harrisburg

PFAS in Harrisburg

Harrisburg has protected its source rather than relying only on treating what arrives. Under a conservation agreement the utility received roughly nine million dollars through the Fort Indiantown Gap Army Compatible Use Buffer programme in exchange for granting a conservation easement over the DeHart property, held by The Nature Conservancy. Land that cannot be developed cannot become a contamination source, and that is the cheapest water treatment there is. A catchment that is almost entirely forest and permanently protected from development carries a lower prior probability of an industrial contaminant than a shallow aquifer under a built-up area. Lower is not zero, and the measured result in the current report is what should decide whether anything is warranted at your tap. If you are on one of the townships served rather than in the city, the same report covers you.

Source: Kittatinny Ridge Coalition, 2024. More on confirming and treating this on our PFAS page.

What this means in practice

• Chlorine and chloramine taste. Confirm with free and total chlorine test strip, plus the utility report for the disinfectant type.
• PFAS. Confirm with certified laboratory analysis using an epa-approved pfas method.

Filters that apply here

• PFAS reduction systems. Reverse osmosis or a certified activated carbon system aimed at per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.
• Under-sink carbon filters. A carbon block cartridge on the cold line under the sink.
• Reverse osmosis, tank. A membrane system under the sink that produces treated water to a dedicated tap and stores it in a small pressure tank.
• Whole-house filtration. A filter plumbed into the main line where water enters the building, so every tap, shower, and appliance downstream is fed treated water.
• Sediment filters. A mechanical filter that captures sand, silt, rust flakes, and other particles.

Installation in Harrisburg

• Free water testing. Typically 45 to 60 minutes.
• Whole-house filter installation. Typically 3 to 5 hours.
• Under-sink reverse osmosis installation. Typically 2 to 4 hours.
• Repair, any brand. Typically 1 to 3 hours.

Renters, co-ops, and businesses

• Options for renters
• Co-ops and condos
• Offices and commercial sites

Local programmes

• Annual water quality report and source water protection plan. Capital Region Water publishes both the yearly results and its DeHart source water protection plan, which sets out what the utility does upstream to keep the reservoir clean rather than only what it does at the plant.

Nearby areas

• Lancaster, PA , Lancaster County
• Reading, PA , Berks County
• Allentown, PA , Lehigh County
• Bethlehem, PA , Northampton County

Sources

• Capital Region Water, 2024.
• Kittatinny Ridge Coalition, 2024.
• Population: US Census Bureau sub-county population estimates, Vintage 2024 (POPESTIMATE2024).