{"id":131727,"date":"2026-03-06T22:52:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T22:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/131727\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T22:52:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T22:52:15","slug":"pennsylvania-proposed-ice-detention-centers-will-overwhelm-existing-infrastructure-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/131727\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania: Proposed ICE detention centers \u2018will overwhelm\u2019 existing infrastructure | State"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/p>\n

A warehouse purchased by ICE in Upper Bern Township, Berks County, on Feb. 26, 2026 (Photo by Ian Karbal\/Pennsyvlania Capital-Star)<\/p>\n

The Shapiro administration stepped up its opposition to two proposed immigrant detention centers in Berks and Schuylkill counties Thursday, issuing administrative orders claiming that housing anyone at either location would violate state water regulations.<\/p>\n

Five administrative orders sent through the state Department of Environmental Protection on Thursday assert that water and sewage cannot be supplied to the two warehouses, meaning the buildings can\u2019t be occupied until the U.S. Department of Homeland Security finds a way to comply.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on what the department has learned about DHS\u2019s plans to convert two commercial warehouses into detention centers for 9,000 people, there are serious concerns about the environmental impacts of these actions. The conversion of warehouses to detention facilities risks harming the communities in and around Tremont and Upper Bern townships, overwhelming their sewage facilities and exceeding the available drinking water supply,\u201d said DEP Secretary Jessica Shirley in a release.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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ICE purchased the buildings in January with plans to open as early as November 30, 2026 \u2014 but the state said the federal agency hasn\u2019t yet filed any permits to \u201csignificantly modify\u201d existing water and wastewater infrastructure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDoubling the populations of these areas could drain drinking water sources and lead to polluted waterways from overwhelmed sewage facilities leaking raw waste into our streets and rivers. Just like anyone else, DHS needs to demonstrate its facilities comply with environmental standards,\u201d Shirley added.<\/p>\n

DEP: Water, sewage systems can\u2019t handle the additional capacity<\/p>\n

Last week, Gov. Josh Shapiro vowed to fight the facilities<\/a>, located in Upper Bern Township in Berks County and Tremont Township in Schuylkill County. Initial plans from Immigration and Customs Enforcement indicate that the two warehouses will house 1,500 and 7,500 immigrants, respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the water and sewage systems in each location can\u2019t accommodate those populations, the Shapiro administration claims.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Upper Bern, the warehouse water system is designed for roughly 350 employees each using 35 gallons of water a day, for a maximum of 12,240 gallons per day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prisons and detention center water systems \u201cshould be designed\u201d to provide two gallons of water per minute with a peak daily demand of 120 gallons per day per person, according to the state administrative orders.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Upper Bern, this would require up to 180,000 gallons of water per day and produce between 112,500 and 225,000 gallons of sewage per day \u2014 more than maximum monthly flow under the entire township\u2019s 2024 wastewater treatment plan, an amount that \u201cwill overwhelm\u201d existing infrastructure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The state said it has issued five emergency permits to the Schuylkill County Municipal Authority, which oversees Tremont\u2019s water and sewage systems, since December 2025 to allow \u201cbulk hauling of drinking water \u2026 created by the emergency drought conditions\u201d in the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n

ICE\u2019s detention plans would require up to 900,000 gallons of water per day, \u201cor 90% of all available stored water in the Tremont Water System,\u201d which would prevent it \u201cfrom serving its current customers and providing water for fire protection.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state concludes that DHS must outline its plans to provide drinking water and sewage service within 20 days, noting that hauling water, tapping into wells or installing storage tanks also require permits. Last week, Shapiro warned that trucking in supplies could wear down local roads, many of which have only two lanes.<\/p>\n

Orders to locals in Upper Bern, Tremont and the Schuylkill County Municipal Authority say that townships would need to redesign their sewage treatment plants and the authority cannot provide sewage service with portable toilets without permitting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A warehouse purchased by ICE in Upper Bern Township, Berks County, on Feb. 26, 2026 (Photo by Ian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[602,4771,23070,4613,1131,2879,5788,6039,2882,2859,34126,2880,2860,2443,58617,741,5202,61110,5780,28,2220,30,29,2889,2303,2858,11489,61109,3415,8991,61107,24015,42257,61108,2867,2874,2878,2856],"class_list":{"0":"post-131727","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-dep","9":"tag-department-of-environmental-protection","10":"tag-department-of-homeland-security","11":"tag-dhs","12":"tag-environment","13":"tag-environmental-engineering","14":"tag-environmental-issues","15":"tag-environmental-protection","16":"tag-environmental-science","17":"tag-fresh-water","18":"tag-government-politics","19":"tag-hydraulic-engineering","20":"tag-hydrology","21":"tag-ice","22":"tag-immigrant-detention","23":"tag-immigration","24":"tag-immigration-and-customs-enforcement","25":"tag-immigration-detention-in-the-united-states","26":"tag-natural-environment","27":"tag-pennsylvania","28":"tag-pennsylvania-department-of-environmental-protection","29":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","30":"tag-pennsylvania-news","31":"tag-pollution","32":"tag-public-health","33":"tag-sanitation","34":"tag-sewage","35":"tag-sewage-treatment","36":"tag-shapiro","37":"tag-shapiro-administration","38":"tag-shirley","39":"tag-united-states-department-of-homeland-security","40":"tag-united-states-immigration-and-customs-enforcement","41":"tag-wasterwater","42":"tag-water","43":"tag-water-and-the-environment","44":"tag-water-pollution","45":"tag-water-supply"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}