Feeling the pressure: Change is needed to ensure safe water delivery in PA

Across Pennsylvania, we are seeing evidence of critical utilities that provide necessary services falling farther behind. They’re expected to deliver reliable service but often don’t have the resources or infrastructure to keep up. Aging systems, tougher regulatory standards and limited funding make it hard for these local providers to meet the needs of the communities they serve. 

These issues are especially acute among water utilities in our state. While there are a relatively small number of electric service providers in the commonwealth, a patchwork of hundreds of small, medium and large water utilities collectively service Pennsylvanians. 

This patchwork landscape is a growing concern. With water utilities of varying size, ownership and capacity, we’re seeing firsthand the strain placed on communities trying to maintain aging infrastructure, meet evolving water quality standards and provide their customers with safe, reliable service at reasonable costs.

As the founding director of the Center for Business Analytics and Disruptive Technologies at Temple University’s Fox School of Business, I am paying close attention to how local officials and the Pennsylvanians who depend on them to ensure safe, consistent delivery of water are preparing for what could be a sea change in the ways that we think about and deliver on water distribution. 

I agree with Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission Chair Steve DeFrank, who recently shared his thoughts on this challenge by emphasizing that regionalization and consolidation of local water systems are needed to provide better drinking water service to residents. In a recent poll conducted by Susquehanna Polling and Research, nearly 8 in 10 Pennsylvanians across party lines and diverse regions agree with him: We must begin to regionalize and consolidate our water systems to achieve efficiencies and deal with an infrastructure that is simply coming apart at the seams in some cases. 

To prepare Pennsylvania communities for the future, public and private partners must come together and develop forward-thinking solutions. In some cases, we already are starting to see state regulators successfully stepping in and relying on larger, consolidated water companies when smaller public systems struggle. 

In an emergency action in 2023, the PUC authorized Pennsylvania American Water, a subsidiary of Camden-based American Water, to manage and operate the East Dunkard Water Authority, located south of Pittsburgh, whose previous ownership endangered the health of over 4,200 people across several townships. Under municipal ownership, water quality incidents were common, and water services for fire and sanitation purposes were compromised. 

Pennsylvania American Water quickly began making a number of critical system improvements through $2 million in investments, immediately improving water quality and service and garnering praise from state Sen. Camera Bartolotta, whose district the utility serves. In April of this year, these efforts culminated in the approved sale of the water system to the company. Pennsylvania American Water is set to invest more than $16.1 million in system improvements across operations technology, infrastructure restorations, and plant upgrades – actions the previous operator was simply unable to take.

This is not to say that there are no public, consolidated systems that currently provide customers with stellar service. For one, the Lycoming County Water and Sewer Authority, based in Montoursville, administers strong water services to its customers across several communities in Central Pennsylvania. It invests in the water infrastructure it owns and operates in a fiscally responsible manner, implementing fair rate increases commensurate with the new investments and the services it provides. 

A receivership followed by an acquisition is only one of several regionalization and consolidation methods that could improve services for Pennsylvania residents when the future of their essential utility becomes murky. Whether the solution to water insecurity is provided by the public sector, the private sector or a hybrid of the two, it is clear: If even one commonwealth community can’t count on their water system to meet their most basic needs, that’s one too many.

With smart consolidation and regionalization efforts, paired with sustained infrastructure investment, now is the time to lean into modernizing water service across the commonwealth and deliver for Pennsylvanians.