Since the 2016 establishment of our award-winning, nationally recognized Community Lead Response, PWSA has made great strides getting the lead out of our drinking water system. This kind of critical work around improving public health is a top priority for all of us, and a great responsibility we don’t take lightly. After all, removing lead service lines is one of the most proactive ways to reduce lead exposure and provide all our communities with safe, high-quality drinking water.

That’s why we’re so proud of our most recent milestone: the removal of our 10,000th lead service line, celebrated last month with state and local officials, community leaders, and members of our Community Lead Response team in the Hazelwood neighborhood of Pittsburgh.

This accomplishment gets us even closer to our overall goal of removing all lead from our water distribution system by 2026.

All told, PWSA has removed a total of more than 59 miles of lead lines from Pittsburgh’s water system and, to date, invested more than $100 million on the removal of lead lines throughout its water service area. Funding for these efforts has been complemented by PENNVEST and other state or federal sources. Since 2018, PWSA has applied for and received over $152 million in PENNVEST funding, of which $19 million has been grants which do not have to be repaid.

These low-interest loans and grants are estimated to have saved ratepayers over $140 million.

There’s a lot of excitement around this achievement, and we want our community to be equally excited about our progress. We’ve created a short video recapping this important milestone, which you can view on PWSA’s YouTube page. Learn more about the 10,000th lead service line replacement mark in our press release.