Allen Town Water

The City Of Allentown originally purchased the water system it currently operates in 1869, from what was then called The Northampton Water Company. This resource has been managed and updated ever since, to provide water to Lehigh Valley, and the City of Allentown.

At the moment, the bureaus water system supplies water to over 34,000 residents and businesses within town. It also delivers water to the Salisbury Township, parts of South Whitehall and Hannover in Lehigh County. Allentown’s water bureau is responsible for water treatment and distribution, sewage collection and treatment and the disbursement of storm waters. Currently employed are around sixty staff members who work in filtration and distribution departments.

Most water is sourced from nearby rivers and springs. These include the Lehigh River, Little Lehigh Creek, Schantz Spring, and the Crystal Spring. Operated by the bureau is a thirty million gallon a day water treatment plant that offers dual media high rate surface filtration, lamella plate clarification and flocculation. All water is disinfected. The latest upgrade was completed in 1997, to include a state of the art computerised operation and monitoring system.

The treatment facility was first built in 1927, and during the recent upgrade, the old facilities were converted to a testing lab and administration buildings. The more modern treatment facility from the 1950’s was completely modernised with new electrics, a computer operated process control system, brand new clarifiers, flocculators, backwash equalisation basins and sludge thickeners. In the year of 1995 the staff and management of the plant chose to set quality at a rate fifty percent higher than the federal and state regulatory guides.

In 1998 saw the bureau win Friends of The Lehigh River Award, and the Diamond Award for Engineering Excellence from the Consulting Engineers Council. This award was in recognition of Innovation of Water Treatment Plant Design. The bureau is also a member of the following associations, American Water Works, American Water Works Research Foundation, The Water Environment Federation, Water Resources Association of Delaware River Basin and The PA Water Environment Association.

The philosophy of the bureau is simple “To Provide high quality water to our consumers.”

We look forward to supplying a safe and plentiful amount of clean fresh water to the residents of the great Lehigh Valley area, and the to the city of Allentown.