Lower Moyamensing Water Hardness & Quality Report (2026)

Lower Moyamensing, Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia County — a Philadelphia County neighborhood adjacent to Passyunk and Packer Park in south Philadelphia — receives its municipal water from the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD), drawing from the Schuylkill River (Queen Lane WTP) or Delaware River (Baxter WTP) through the Philadelphia south distribution zone.

The very hard 202.5 mg/L hardness and elevated TDS of 513.4 mg/L make Lower Moyamensing the hardest Philadelphia neighborhood in this dataset, consistent with south Philadelphia receiving a high proportion of Schuylkill River water (more calcareous than the Delaware). The Schuylkill River at Philadelphia drains the Pennsylvania Appalachians — Ordovician Nittany Dolomite (high purity carbonate — major hardness source), Triassic Brunswick Formation calcareous redbeds (second major hardness contributor), and the Cambrian Conestoga Limestone (calcareous). South Philadelphia's Schuylkill-dominant supply produces the elevated hardness compared to northeast Philadelphia (Parkwood Manor: 155 mg/L).

At 202.5 mg/L, Lower Moyamensing's water is very hard. A water softener is strongly recommended. Scale builds rapidly on heating surfaces and water heaters require annual descaling. The PFAS level of 10.4 ppt warrants a certified reverse osmosis drinking water filter — the Philadelphia Naval Yard (south Philadelphia — AFFF), the Schuylkill River PFAS legacy, and the Delaware Valley PFAS complex contribute to Lower Moyamensing's very elevated readings.