PWSA to fill water meter gap along city-owned properties next year

under PUC oversight.

“Whether or not we are regulated by the PUC, we are strategically headed in that direction,” said Robert Weimar, the PWSA interim executive director. More comprehensive metering, he said, will encourage an “equitable distribution of cost.” It’s also expected to help establish how much water leaks from the PWSA distribution system. The authority can’t bill for about half the clean water it produces, the state audit found, due in part to unidentified leaky pipes.

New city water meters are part of a broader initiative to strengthen usage monitoring. The $34.9 million budget item — to cover the next three years — includes new meters for 500 to 600 industrial customers who need them, according to PWSA. The authority plans to replace meters for other users who have inaccurate readings, Mr. Weimar said.

He said it probably will take more more than a year to finish installing meters at city properties, with the highest-volume spots getting top priority. Mr. DePasquale said about 400 city properties are connected to the PWSA water system. The authority reported that 223 have meters, although it wasn’t immediately clear Friday whether those devices are monitored.

“As part of the city’s resilience and sustainability work, we are interested in gauging our water use and tracking how it can be most efficiently used,” said Timothy McNulty, a spokesman for Mayor Bill Peduto, in a statement. He said Mr. Peduto “is open to discussing the city paying more for PWSA water, as long as the payments are earmarked for much-needed infrastructure improvements.”

Pittsburgh already pays for use at city facilities served by Pennsylvania American Water Co., according to that utility. The company supplies water to some 27,000 Pittsburgh customers, including those in many southern neighborhoods.

Mr. DePasquale said new metering by PWSA should help ensure “the appropriate amount every year is going back into infrastructure.” His office’s audit runs 55 pages, citing a range of problems with governance, technical upkeep and management at the authority.

“This is going to be years in the making in getting this right. But sometimes it’s not just one silver bullet,” Mr. DePasquale said Friday. “Sometimes you’ve got to do 20 little things, and this [metering] is one of them.”

Plans set by the PWSA board last week will increase service rates some 50 percent over the next three years, funneling much of the extra revenue into key infrastructure improvement that the authority long neglected. The first increase, to take effect in January, will add about $15 to the average residential customer’s monthly charges, bringing them to around $75.

Ms. Lestitian said the PWSA also is exploring the sale of excess water capacity to other utilities.

“We’re looking at other ways to increase our revenues other than just through increasing rates,” she said.