PWSA and Community Partners Announce Pittsburgh’s Water Equity Road Map

US Water Alliance and Pittsburgh leaders representing Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, community-based organizations, and academia released An Equitable Water Future: Pittsburgh.
Thumbnail of Equity Roadmap

This report outlines strategies to advance five high priority water equity priorities in Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh Water Equity Taskforce worked for two years to investigate challenges and potential solutions to systemic disparities and ways to ensure all residents benefit from a sustainable, inclusive, and just water future. This roadmap discusses recommendations in five priority areas: water quality and environmental health, sustainable stormwater management, affordability, workforce development, 
and water democracy. The Pittsburgh Water Equity Taskforce built these recommendations in close collaboration with diverse stakeholders from across the city and has begun the work to bring them to life.  

Collaborators on this project include:  

  • Common Unity PGH
  • Neighborhood Allies
  • Our Water Campaign(convened by Pittsburgh United)
  • Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority
  • PolicyLink
  • University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Health Equity
  • The UrbanKind Institute
  • Pittsburgh residents passionate about access to clean, affordable water

Water shapes economic growth, the environment, and the social fabric of communities. The group of collaborators that created Pittsburgh’s Water Equity Roadmap envision a community where all residents have access to safe, reliable, and affordable drinking and wastewater services and are resilient to floods and other water-related climate risks. There is also an interest to see residents participate in the decisions pertaining to their water services and benefit from the increased investment being made in our local water systems. Water is so intricately linked to equity because it is necessary for sustaining life, and the water services we provide need to work in favor of Pittsburgh residents and the populations we serve. 

“PWSA understands the opportunity we have to be a community partner that helps everyone in Pittsburgh thrive, and we want to be a forward-looking utility that helps make Pittsburgh a more equitable place to live,” says Will Pickering, Chief Executive Officer. “I’m grateful that PWSA had a chance to collaborate with such thoughtful and invested partners from across Pittsburgh and the country.”

Graphic illustrating An Equitable Water Future Pittsburgh

To read the full report, and see our press release, visit pgh2o.com/news-events.