Formed 17 February 1984 Number of employees 244 (as of Dec 2016) | Jurisdiction City of Pittsburgh Founded 17 February 1984 | |
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Agency executive Bernard Lindstrom, Interim Executive Director Profiles | ||
The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (PWSA) is a municipal authority in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is responsible for water treatment and delivery systems in the city of Pittsburgh, as well as the city's sewer system. In a 2010 report, the authority reported 80,557 drinking water service connections and 107,151 sewage connections. The authority claims to serve approximately 250,000 customers, though it does not report how this number is calculated. (The population of the city in 2010 was 334,704.)
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It is estimated that there are 930 miles of water lines and 7,300 Fire Hydrants.
History
The PWSA was created in 1984 to oversee a $200 million capital improvement program focused on Pittsburgh's water treatment and distribution system. This capital improvement program was primarily designed to ensure that the water system would meet various new requirements mandated by federal and state laws pertaining to safe drinking water.
The largest project undertaken in the initial years of the PWSA was to cover all open water reservoirs, replace them with closed tanks, or else enact another acceptable solution, such as the installation of a membrane filtration plant at the open Highland Reservoir No. 1, which is the focal point of Highland Park.
The City of Pittsburgh Water Department was absorbed by the PWSA in 1995, and in 1999, the PWSA also assumed the responsibility of operating and maintaining Pittsburgh's sewer system.