Why Billions of Gallons of Raw Sewage Keep Ending up in Philadelphia Waterways

Inside Climate News · By Kyle Bagenstose · last updated October 28, 2025 – 1:05 AM

With a new analysis showing where the pollution is going, environmental advocates call on public officials to do more to stop it.

By Kyle Bagenstose

PHILADELPHIA—Some 280 years after a river-swimming Benjamin Franklin petitioned to curb water pollution here, the city is still struggling to meet the challenge, according to water advocates who assembled along the banks of one of its two main rivers on Monday.

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