We’ve accomplished a great deal so far this year, with much more on the docket for the balance of 2023. In a fast-paced world, news can be easy to miss. Below, you’ll find a compilation of some of our greatest moments so far this year. For more information beyond the accompanying summary of each headline, click the link or visit pgh2o.com.
Water quality and the ongoing removal of lead service lines.
Highlighting Our Successful 2022 Community Lead Response. We’ve made great progress to get the lead out of our drinking water system, recording some of the lowest lead levels in our history since 2020.
PWSA Celebrates 10,000 Lead Service Line Replacements with Federal, State and Local Leaders. In February, we officially replaced our 10,000th lead service line. Now, with more than half removed from our drinking water system, we’re on track to remove all lead service lines by 2026.
2022 Water Quality Report. Our most recent Water Quality Report shows a clean bill of health for drinking water quality. With a highly qualified Compliance Team, we are well-positioned to deliver on future regulatory obligations mandated by state and federal agencies and fulfill our mission to protect public health and the environment through the delivery of safe and reliable water services.
Understanding Your Water Quality. We summarized some of the important techniques our Water Quality and Lab teams use to ensure the water coming to your tap is safe and reliable.
Modernizing and funding large, century-old infrastructure improvements.
PWSA Completes First Water Reliability Plan Project. In late 2022, we completed the first phase of these once-in-a-generation projects and immediately began construction of the second phase. These improvements will strengthen our water system, add needed redundancy, and, when complete, provide PWSA’s drinking water customers with more reliable water services.
PWSA Announces $52.4 Million EPA Loan for Water Reliability Plan Projects. PWSA was the proud recipient of a more than $50 million loan as part of the EPA’s Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) to help fund these large-scale projects. We’ll also use approximately $93 million from a prior PENNVEST funding award.
Your Ratepayer Dollars Explained. As a publicly owned and operated utility, every dollar we receive from ratepayers is reinvested back into our infrastructure and the improvements we’re making to provide high-quality, reliable water, wastewater, and stormwater services. Low-interest loans from state and federal funding partners and grants that do not need to be repaid will, over time, save ratepayers millions of dollars in comparison to traditional financing.
Replacing aging infrastructure in Pittsburgh neighborhoods.
Snapshot: 2022 Year in Review. In 2022, we replaced seven miles of water main, rehabbed 18.6 miles of sewer main, and replaced 233 storm drains and 88 fire hydrants. Our rehabilitation of aging infrastructure is an investment in Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods to ensure safe, reliable water, sewer, and fire protection services for years to come.
And that’s certainly not all. We recently published a full 2022 Year in Review report, which is available on our website. We encourage you to review that comprehensive overview of our work and ongoing transformation.
