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Darryl Jenkins, executive manager of the Chester Water Authority in southeastern Pennsylvania, stands near the Octoraro water treatment plant.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dave Harp<\/a><\/p>\n Editor\u2019s note: This article is part of a series,\u00a0Our Waterways<\/a>, examining the health of smaller streams and sections of rivers in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. If you would like to suggest a waterway to feature, contact Jeremy Cox at\u00a0jcox@bayjournal.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Catherine Miller has a message for private investors interested in buying the Octoraro Reservoir: It\u2019s not for sale.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is not in the interest of our ratepayers,\u201d said Miller, who heads the anti-privatization campaign for the Chester Water Authority (CWA), which owns the 520-acre impoundment in southeastern Pennsylvania. \u201cYou would get the same water and pay two to three times as much.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2025, the Chester Water Authority planted 13,700 trees on the property next to the Octoraro Reservoir in southeastern Pennsylvania.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dave Harp<\/a><\/p>\n The reservoir lies on the border of Chester and Lancaster counties and serves as the primary drinking water supply for more than 250,000 residents across Philadelphia\u2019s southern suburbs. A dam built more than 70 years ago transformed this portion of Octoraro Creek, a Susquehanna River tributary, into a mishmash of lake and river \u2014 a wide and winding watercourse that doesn\u2019t course all that much.<\/p>\n The CWA also owns about 2,000 acres of land surrounding the reservoir, maintaining it in a largely natural state for the protection of water quality and as a popular hub for fishing, paddling and birding.<\/p>\n This tranquil setting, though, has turned into a legal battleground over the past decade, pitting the CWA and its ratepayers against a private water company and a cash-strapped city: Chester, PA. The outcome could have huge implications not only for the cost of water bills throughout CWA\u2019s service area but also for the ecological health of the reservoir.<\/p>\n Darryl Jenkins (left), Steve McBryde and Catherine Miller of the Chester Water Authority in Pennsylvania talk at the Octoraro Reservoir.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dave Harp<\/a><\/p>\n Critics fear that CWA\u2019s potential private buyer, Bryn Mawr-based Aqua Pennsylvania, could ban public access around the reservoir or sell off the tree-lined acreage around its shores to developers for a quick cash infusion. Replacing the natural terrain with buildings and asphalt could cause more polluted stormwater runoff to enter the waterway, they say.<\/p>\n Aqua has denied<\/a> it would change how the surrounding land is managed. And while Chester\u2019s state-appointed receiver, who helps manage the city\u2019s assets, says he has no intent of putting the CWA into private hands, the utility\u2019s supporters say they still worry it could be placed into a public-private partnership that all but does the same thing.<\/p>\n Privately owned companies now supply water to about 1 out of 10 U.S. residents, according to federal data<\/a>. In Pennsylvania, it\u2019s more like 1 in 3, thanks largely to a 2016 law that gave public entities more incentive<\/a> to sell to corporations.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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