Susquehanna River
Do you live in the Susquehanna River Watershed? Learn about your local watershed, your community's water protection efforts, and WHAT YOU CAN DO to protect your local creeks, rivers, and streams...
In 1736, Susquehannock Indians living in a river valley near the Chesapeake Bay sold some of their land to white settlers. The Susquehannocks have long since vanished, but their namesake, now called the Susquehanna River, still flows, adding an astonishing 19 million gallons of freshwater to the Chesapeake every minute.
The 444 mile -long river draws its strength from a 13 million -acre drainage basin. This watershed, second largest in the eastern United States, encompasses over half the state of Pennsylvania as well as parts of New York and Maryland. Beginning as an overflow of Otsego Lake, near Cooperstown, New York, the Susquehanna flows south through towns and dairy land, coal fields, farms, and forest. At Northumberland, in central Pennsylvania, the river is joined by its main tributary --the West Branch Susquehanna. Forty miles farther south the mile wide Susquehanna flows past Pennsylvania's capital city of Harrisburg. At Havre de Grace, Maryland, the Susquehanna empties into the Chesapeake Bay, the drowned river valley of the ancient Susquehanna.
Municipalities in the Susquehanna River Watershed:
All of Cumberland County, and at least a third of all Pennsylvania Counties, drain to the Susquehanna River.
Chesapeake Connection
The Susquehanna River
drains into the
Chesapeake Bay
