The York Water Company is not new to the public utility business. In fact, the York, Pa.-based company is the oldest investor-owned utility in the country, getting its start nearly 200 years ago.
“York Water Company provides customers with safe, dependable, high-quality water, wastewater and related services that meet or exceed customer expectations at reasonable rates,” the company says.
The utility also strives to sustain an environment that “encourages employees to achieve a high standard of performance while earning a fair return for shareholders,” the company says.
York Water Company serves 48 municipalities within York and Adams counties, which are located about 100 miles west of Philadelphia. The company is regulated by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.
York Water Company supplies water through a distribution system that obtains its water supply from the south and east branches of Codorus Creek, which drains an area of approximately 117 square miles. The company has two reservoirs, Lake Williams and Lake Redman, which together hold up to 2.2 billion gallons of water, the company says.
The utility supplies an average of 20 million gallons of water a day and has about 65,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers. More than 180,000 people use the water in 43 communities in York and Adams counties, the company says.
The utility’s average daily consumption is approximately 18.5 million gallons, and its average daily availability is approximately 35 million gallons, it says.
“The York Water Company has been committed to the community it serves for almost 200 years,” the utility says. “This same commitment will continue well into the future. There is a simple reason that York Water is the oldest investor-owned utility in the nation: a commitment to its customers and its community. If customers are provided a high-quality, plentiful supply of water at a reasonable price, then shareholders, employees and regulators will also benefit from this exceptional relationship.”
A Long History
The York Water Company did not get its start in response to a need for drinking water. Rather, residents in the 1800s were seeking a better way to control fires, the company says.
“During the period before electricity and central heating, homes and businesses were heated and lit with oil lamps, candles and fireplaces, which were part of everyday life,” the company says. “On numerous occasions, fire almost destroyed York.”
Bucket brigades were often inadequate protection for the risks presented by fires. But a public water supply could provide the necessary amount of water and sufficient pressure to supply the hand pumps that the local fire companies operated, the utility says.
The York Water Company was incorporated in 1816. A group of local businessmen met at a tavern, issued stock and formed the company. During the first year of operation, the company contracted for 16,000 feet of logs for pipes.
The first water source was a spring in an area called Baumgartner’s Woods, which today is the location of Penn State University’s York campus. Water was conveyed from the springs to a reservoir and then piped into the town square.
Signs of Progress
The utility realized significant progress in the 1840s. Cast iron piping replaced wooden pipes, which leaked and couldn’t maintain water pressure, the company says.
In 1849, the growing community outgrew the springs in Baumgartner’s Woods and augmented the supply by pumping water from Codorus Creek. A new steam-powered pumping station also was constructed.
“According to York Water legend, the fire in the first boiler was started from the pipe of a workman and burned continuously for 107 years until 1956 when the company converted to electric pumps,” the company says.
York was a booming industrial community at the end of the 19th century. Industrial discharge went into the west branch of Codorus Creek, polluting the water and making it unfit to drink. The utility responded by constructing a larger pumping station located upstream of the confluence of the river.
In 1899, York constructed its first filtration plant after towns discovered that unprotected water supplies were spreading typhoid fever. “This was the first successfully operated water treatment plant in Pennsylvania,” the company says. Chlorine was added to the purified water to further kill any harmful bacteria.
The natural flow of the south and east branches of Codorus Creek proved inadequate to supply a growing industrial community. In 1899, the company purchased land to build a dam to impound the water supply for periods of drought.
The company’s growth and progress continued throughout the 20th century. The first dam was constructed in 1913 and a new filter building was erected in 1932 with a capacity of 15 million gallons per day, the company says. It later was expanded to 30 million gallons per day. The facility remains in service today.
The dam was expanded in 1954 in response to a need to store more water for the community. Two years later, electrical pumping began, signaling the end of the steam era. The steam engines were maintained for backup until 1982 when they were replaced by diesel-driven pumps.
A second dam was completed in 1967, increasing the total capacity of both lakes to 2.3 billion gallons, the company explains.
Wastewater Operations
York Water Company added a wastewater system to its operations in 2014 with the acquisition of Asbury Pointe Wastewater and East Prospect Wastewater.
“We’ve been infrastructure experts for nearly 200 years. As we head towards the future, it has become even more clear that all water is interrelated,” the utility says. “Drinking water, wastewater and stormwater are all part of the hydrologic cycle.
“York Water does a superb job managing water systems. Wastewater is the natural next step and not a whole lot different: It’s a pipe with a customer at one end, and a treatment facility at the other end.”
