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    Act 537 Sewage Facilities Program

    Municipal On-Lot Sewage Service Areas

    The following map depicts the most current types of municipal on-lot sewage service for each municipality (updated July 12, 2023).

    7-12-23 Municipal Onlot Service Areas Map 7-12-23 Municipal Onlot Service Areas Map
    7-12-23 Municipal Onlot Service Areas 7-12-23 Municipal Onlot Service Areas Map Legend

    To view an expanded regional map with a table listing municipalities and their corresponding Multi-Municipal Local Agency name, or Joint Local Agency name, click on the region name below. If the municipality has no corresponding Joint Local Agency name, the municipality is not part of a Multi-Municipal Local Agency.

    The Pennsylvania Sewage Facilities Act (Act 537) defines "Local Agency" as "a municipality, or any combination thereof acting cooperatively or jointly under the laws of the Commonwealth, county, county department of health or joint county department of health." Local Agencies are responsible for carrying out on-lot or onsite ("septic system") sewage treatment system permitting and enforcement activities. With certain exceptions (i.e. large volume on-lot systems), local agencies are responsible for issuing permits for retaining tanks or for individual and community on-lot sewage systems which renovate sewage effluent in a soil absorption area or spray field. Local agencies employ Sewage Enforcement Officers (SEOs) and other staff as necessary to meet this obligation.

    When groups of municipalities form a common agency for the purpose of pooling their individual resources, working together to coordinate permitting and enforcement activities over a larger area, or to receive increased annual reimbursement funding from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), this new organization may be referred to as a "Joint Local Agency." Within their larger service area, Joint Local Agencies perform all the permitting and enforcement activities normally provided by a Local Agency, and often provide superior service with a full time staff. While county departments of health are actually mentioned in Act 537 as Local Agencies, since they serve all the municipalities within a county, they may be considered an example of a Joint Local Agency. A Joint Local Agency may also be referred to as a "Multi-Municipal Local Agency" (MMLA) or even a "Sewage Committee."

    In some cases, Joint Local Agencies may obtain additional authority and responsibility from DEP by requesting Act 537 planning approval delegation. These agencies are known as "Delegated Joint Local Agencies." Delegated Joint Local Agencies may receive authorization from DEP to review and either approve or disapprove new land development planning proposals. Depending upon their individual requests, Delegated Joint Local Agencies may receive authorization from DEP to process both on-lot and public sewerage proposals. The Delegated Joint Local Agencies in Pennsylvania are:

    • Armstrong County Sewage Enforcement Agency
    • City of Philadelphia
    • Indiana County Sewage Enforcement Agency
    • Lebanon County Planning Department

    An ordinance and public notice are required to create an MMLA, along with other essential documents for the administration of an MMLA. A sample ordinance (PDF), sample public notice (PDF), sample bylaws (PDF), and sample policies and procedures (PDF) are available.

    The Joint Local Agency Service Area maps and related data provided here represent a tabulation of municipalities acting in coordination throughout the Commonwealth. The maps are color coded to depict Local Agencies, Joint Local Agencies, and Delegated Joint Local Agencies in order to assist in determining the type and name of the agency providing on-lot permitting services in a given area.

    While this mapping is updated using multiple sources within DEP, if information presented here is in error, municipalities are invited to submit corrected data to:

    DEP, Division of Municipal Facilities
    RCSOB - 11th Floor
    P.O. Box 8774
    Harrisburg, PA 17105-8774.

    To contact the Division of Municipal Facilities by phone, call 717-787-5017.