Saturday, February 22, 2025, 10:13AM |  25°
MENU
Advertisement
City Controller Michael Lamb and Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale.
1
MORE

More water woes: A big leak, DEP finding and bad audit for PWSA

Pam Panchak/Post-Gazette

More water woes: A big leak, DEP finding and bad audit for PWSA

Leave it to the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority to prove the maxim that past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. For the second time in less than three years, the state Department of Environmental Protection has rapped the PWSA for using certain treatment chemicals without permission.

But that wasn’t the least of the perennially ineffectual agency’s woes Thursday. It also was repairing a leak draining an estimated 10,000 gallons of water from its system every minute, was under fire because of an unflattering audit by city Controller Michael Lamb and was bracing for an upcoming review by state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, who pledged to put the agency “under a new magnifying glass.”

It all gives new urgency to Mayor Bill Peduto’s promise to set up a panel to chart the future of the PWSA, plagued by years of personnel, billing, flood-control and customer-service problems and criticized two weeks ago for a low-chlorine reading that forced 100,000 Pittsburghers to boil their water for about two days. 

Advertisement

The PWSA also faces the monumental task of replacing lead pipes. An overhaul of the agency can’t come fast enough. It could spring a new leak at any time. 

In 2014, the DEP cited the PWSA for substituting one type of corrosion inhibitor for another without permission. The agency eventually resumed use of the original chemical, and the state concluded there had been no impact on drinking water quality.

 Lesson learned? Not quite. According to a report Thursday by the Post-Gazette’s Don Hopey, the DEP cited the agency again in January, this time for using coagulating agents that hadn’t been approved for the agency’s treatment process. State officials are still determining what impact, if any, the change had on water quality and public health. So far, there is no evidence of harm.

About 11 a.m. Thursday, the PWSA announced it had found the 10,000-gallon-a-minute leak — in a 60-inch line between a reservoir and a treatment plant — and was scrambling to repair it. At about the same time, Mr. Lamb released the draft version of a PWSA performance audit that he said found problems “at every turn” between 2012 and last year. Many of the issues, such as leadership turnover, billing problems and the challenge of replacing lead pipes, were well known.

Advertisement

However, the audit provided new details, such as how poorly installed meters contributed to billing problems, and helpful recommendations, such as his proposal to streamline the automated phone-answering process so that customers reporting emergencies spend less time on hold. He also urged the agency to work with vendors to arrange special prices  for consumers concerned about lead so they can install filters or have their homes’ individual service lines replaced.

Mr. DePasquale, who attended a press conference with Mr. Lamb, said he was invited to review the PWSA’s governance structure and decision-making by Mr. Peduto and the PWSA board. 

The agency needs all the help it can get. As Mr. DePasquale pointed out, consumer confidence is at a low ebb.

First Published: February 17, 2017, 5:00 a.m.

RELATED
SHOW COMMENTS (0)  
Join the Conversation
Commenting policy | How to Report Abuse
If you would like your comment to be considered for a published letter to the editor, please send it to letters@post-gazette.com. Letters must be under 250 words and may be edited for length and clarity.
Partners
Advertisement
Preston Coleman, 52, was beaten and strangled inside an Aliquippa VFW on Jan. 5, 2025, in what police described as a vicious, unprovoked attack.
1
news
Bartender working at Aliquippa VFW during beating that left man unconscious facing charges
The University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning
2
business
Amid funding uncertainty, Pitt pauses doctoral admissions
Mayor Ed Gainey during  a press conference at the Downtown Public Safety Center on Thursday. He angrily criticized what he believes negative media coverage of his work as mayor.
3
opinion
Brandon McGinley: ‘The wheels are coming off’ the Gainey administration
On the UPMC Mercy Pavilion's rooftop terrace, the Rehabilitation Garden provides a safe environment where patients can practice navigating training ramps, steps and diverse surfaces like gravel, turf and concrete. The garden includes fragrant herbs and other pleasant sensory stimuli.
4
business
East Liberty-based artificial intelligence firm raises $250 million, deploys AI platform in 100 healthcare systems
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey addresses the media at a construction site in Garfield being rebuilt as part of his Keep Pittsburgh Home: Housing for People, Not for Profit program designed to create affordable housing and forestall speculators within the Pittsburgh Housing Market, Friday, Feb. 21, 2025.
5
news
New Gainey initiative takes aim at ‘predatory’ real estate investors to boost affordable housing
City Controller Michael Lamb and Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale.  (Pam Panchak/Post-Gazette)
Pam Panchak/Post-Gazette
Advertisement
LATEST opinion
Advertisement
TOP
Email a Story