Harwick discharges stormwater, treated mine water and landfill leachate from a coal ash landfill into Little Deer Creek which flows into Deer Creek approximately 2.2 miles upstream of the confluence of Deer Creek and the Allegheny River.
Discharge monitoring reports submitted by Harwick to the Department of Environmental Protection show that from March 2025 to the present, Harwick has repeatedly violated its permit limits for iron, copper, cadmium, aluminum, manganese, total suspended solids, and hexavalent chromium.
DEP has listed Little Deer Creek under the CWA as impaired due to high levels of iron, aluminum, and manganese.
“Given its proximity to major drinking water sources, it is crucial that this facility complies with the Clean Water Act,” said Dr. Heather Hulton VanTassel, Executive Director, Three Rivers Waterkeeper.
The Oakmont Borough Municipal Authority and the Wilkinsburg-Penn Joint Water Authority have public drinking water intakes 3.5 and 10 river miles, respectively, downstream from Harwick’s site.
The notice is based on publicly available information, including Harwick’s CWA discharge permit and the discharge monitoring reports required by that permit.
The purpose of the notice is to identify those violations and to give Harwick 60 days to achieve full compliance before a citizen suit is filed.
"Our goal is to stop this ongoing pollution and protect our most critical natural resource - clean water." said Dr. Hulton VanTassel. "We can’t continue to allow our streams and rivers that provide drinking water and critical habitat to plants and animals to be unnecessarily contaminated by toxic chemicals."
“This case shows the lingering long-term effects of burning coal to generate electricity,” said Jim Hecker, Senior Environmental Enforcement Attorney at Public Justice in Washington, D.C. “Even though the Cheswick power plant that burned the coal and generated the coal ash in the landfill has been shut down, pollutants from the coal mines and coal ash near the plant site are continuing to pollute the environment.”
Harwick is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Charah Solutions, Inc., a holding company which provides services to the power generation industry.
Three Rivers Waterkeeper is represented by Public Justice and Steve Harvey LLC in Philadelphia.
Related Articles This Week:
-- PA Congresswoman Summer Lee, Westmoreland County Leaders Celebrate $1.075 Million Federal Grant To Cleanup Abandoned Mine Drainage In Turtle Creek Watershed [PaEN]
-- Three Rivers Waterkeeper Notifies Harwick Operating Co. That It Intents To Sue The Company Over Clean Water Act Violations At Its Coal Ash Landfill In Allegheny County [PaEN]
-- Call For Presentations: Delaware Estuary Science & Environmental Summit, Feb. 23-24 [PaEN]
-- DEP Finalizes Spill/Release Notification Guidance Under Clean Streams Law [PaEN]
-- Lancaster Clean Water Partners Host Watershed Leadership Training For Lancaster's Next Clean Water Leaders [PaEN]
-- DEP Invites Comments On Total Maximum Daily Load Plan For Baken Creek Watershed, Perry County [PaEN]
NewsClips:
-- The Citizens’ Voice: Small But Mighty: Eastern PA Coalition For Abandoned Mine Reclamation Celebrates 30 Years Of Revitalizing Region’s Coal Land [PDF of Article]
-- WESA/The Allegheny Front: DEP To Study Whether 11,000 Acres In Westmoreland County Is ‘Unsuitable’ For Coal Mining
-- The Allegheny Front: Lacking Federal Limits, DEP Looks To Reduce PFAS ‘Forever Chemicals’ In Biosolids Spread On Farm Fields
-- PA American Water White Paper Highlights Community Benefits Of Water And Wastewater System Partnerships
-- The Citizens’ Voice: Swarms Of Mayflies In Wilkes-Barre A Good Sign For The Susquehanna River
-- PA Capital-Star: Report Finds Bacteria From Fecal Matter Affecting PA Rivers, Streams
[Posted: August 27, 2026] PA Environment Digest
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