All of us at the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority have a shared responsibility to understand our regulatory requirements, behave ethically, and serve as steadfast stewards of our most precious natural resource – our water – for the communities we serve.
A key element of our ongoing transformation centers on a renewed focus on environmental compliance and ethics. We’ve made – and continue to make – great strides in this critical area, setting in motion what we’re confident will be a lasting and sustained cultural shift that places these ideals front-of-mind in everything we do.
Our recently established Environmental Compliance Program is the cornerstone of this commitment to operating in accordance with the strict requirements of the law and in a manner consistent with high ethical and professional standards in the delivery of drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater services to our customers. This program is multifaceted, consisting of, for example, organization-wide policies around ethics, conduct, and training, and the development of an Environmental Compliance Manual.
Chief Environmental Compliance & Ethics Officer, Frank Sidari
Leading these efforts is Frank Sidari, PWSA’s former Environmental Compliance Manager for Water Production and Supply at our Water Treatment Plant. Mr. Sidari is a board-certified engineer who has more than 20 years of experience in drinking water systems.
In November 2021, Mr. Sidari was promoted to the newly created role of Chief Environmental Compliance & Ethics Officer. In this role, he is responsible for the strategic and operational accountability and oversight of applicable environmental rules, regulations, permitting, and laws. He also serves as a resource for the entire staff on ethics and compliance issues.
A newly established Environmental Compliance group is responsible for the overall compliance, monitoring, and reporting associated with our wastewater, stormwater, chemical storage, air, and waste management regulations. They oversee risk assessments and internal environmental compliance audits, and coordinate oversight with PWSA’s corporate and independent monitors.
We know that consistent communication and employee engagement around this topic will be key to our continued success. To best support our staff in their awareness of Authority policies and procedures, we conducted mandatory ethics and compliance training. In conjunction with Human Resources, we updated a variety of related policies, including our Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct. These updated policies and training have conveyed our expectations around environmental compliance and ethics for all employees and contractors. We also established a third-party whistleblower system whereby all employees can anonymously report known or possible compliance, ethics, or safety violations.
Our focus on environmental compliance and ethics is ongoing, and we have a variety of efforts planned for 2022 and beyond to ensure we continue the momentum we’ve been building. We’re confident that we’re equipped with the resources, dedicated leadership, and fortitude to forge a culture that prioritizes ethical behavior with a focus on regulatory compliance. This culture change will help to protect the environment and ensure we continue to provide high-quality drinking water to those we serve.