Representative Mike Turzai

Speaker of the House

28th District

Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Media Contact: Stephen Miskin

717.772.9943 (office), 717.756.3936 (cell)

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 29, 2017

Oversight Needed at Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, Says Speaker Turzai

HARRISBURG – Speaker of the House Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny) issued the following statement regarding the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (PWSA) and the preliminary report issued by Infrastructure Management Group yesterday:

“The management failures at the PWSA have continued for too long. It is hard to fathom that 20 percent of the PWSA’s workforce is on disability leave. Further it is inconceivable that the authority loses 50 percent of its water as a result of leaks in the system. What have the city leaders done to remedy this deplorable situation? Oversight is needed to bring the system under control.

The House passed House Bill 1490 by a unanimous vote on June 8.  We would encourage the Senate to move forward with approving this legislation before the situation gets worse.”

House Bill 1490 would place the PWSA under the oversight of the Public Utility Commission (PUC).  Over the last year, local and national newspapers have recounted many service issues facing PWSA. They include multi-million dollar debt and uncollectibles, unmetered accounts, incorrect billing, system leaks, and thousands of lead service lines, many of which have not been identified or located.

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