LANCASTER, Pa. (WHTM) – The Wetlands at Long’s Park is an innovative water treatment system that costs $1.9 million. Its goal is to improve the health and habitat quality of Long’s Pond.

“The design is meant to have a constant flow from Long’s Pond, flow it through the system and treat that,” a water resources engineer for Jacobs Daniel Wible said. “In large storm events, we wanted some contingency that we wouldn’t flood out the park.”

Some of the poor-quality water flowing into the Chesapeake Bay comes right from Lancaster.

By dealing with runoff from Route 30 and Long’s Park itself, this system will improve the Little Conestoga Creek Watershed which is in the Lower Susquehanna River Basin.

Ultimately, it will help with the condition of the Chesapeake.

“It is in the southeastern part of Pennsylvania where there are many challenges and we have the ability in a beautiful setting to remedy much of that challenge,” the director of Public Works for Lancaster Stephen Campbell said.

Angela Brackbill is a water resources engineer for the city. She says the Wetlands are constantly working.

“This system is pumping 25 gallons per minute of pond water to the forebay of the system and then it re-circulates down through and re-enters the pond,” said Brackbill.

Harmful substances are also being removed during the process.

“The reduction in sediment is about 95%, phosphorous is 50% and then we are expecting a reduction of about 32% for nitrogen,” said Brackbill.

The system can treat a flow of 44,000 gallons of water per day. That equals the average amount of water used by 150 American households daily.