Water back on after association files for bankruptcy
Century Townhomes in Clairton overdue on bills, utility says
Several hundred Clairton residents lost water service for about six hours Thursday after Pennsylvania American Water suspended the service at Century Townhomes, citing years of unpaid charges.
Water came back on about 6 p.m. Asked why it restored water, a company spokesman referred to a bankruptcy filing made that afternoon by the Century Townhomes Homeowners Association.
That filing means a bankruptcy court will resolve service issues at the Desiderio Boulevard complex, the utility said.
“Pennsylvania American Water expects that the Century Townhomes association will one day pay their outstanding bill,” the company said in a statement.
It wasn’t immediately clear how much money the company sought. It had cited a “substantial past-due amount” that accrued from 2012 to 2017. The company made water buffaloes available during the service interruption.
Between 400 and 600 people live in the complex, according to property manager Chaim Davidson.
A mix of rental and owner-occupied units, the development has struggled with repairs, maintenance and unpaid utility bills before. It is home to the Sisters Place nonprofit, which assists singleparent families who otherwise would be homeless. Sisters Place owns 16 units and leases another 16 units to families there.
Before the spigots flowed again, neighbors had a tough time imagining how they would wash clothes, cook and bathe.
“We have handicapped people, pregnant women, elderly people, children,” said resident Polly Dale, known as “Grandma Polly.” She helped fetch water for several older neighbors, she said.
Felicia Serrano of North Versailles, who stopped to pick up her granddaughter, called the water shut-off “a third-world-situation type of thing.”
“No one should have to live in these conditions, especially living here,” Ms. Serrano said. “This is America. This is the United States of America. You have families.”
A single water meter serves
hundreds of units at the lowincome complex, a yearslong problem that has plagued the site and hampered payment of outstanding water debt, Sister Mary Parks said. She runs Sisters Place and is volunteer secretary of the Century Townhomes Homeowners Association.
“We have tried to work with Pennsylvania American,” Sister Mary said.
The homeowners association filed for bankruptcy protection Thursday in federal court, along with an emergency motion to compel Pennsylvania American to turn the water back on, association attorney Kathryn Harrison said.
“Through the years beginning in 2013, Pennsylvania American Water has worked directly with the Century Townhomes association’s officers and its two different attorneys to resolve the issue,” the company said in a statement.
“As a public utility regulated by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, Pennsylvania American Water has an obligation to the approximately 2.4 million people we serve throughout the commonwealth, and could no longer continue to subsidize the Century Townhomes association.”
Both the Allegheny County Health Department and the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission were looking into the matter.
Tension with Pennsylvania American stems from unpaid charges that accumulated under a prior owner, said Mr. Davidson, who owns Wilkinsburgbased Aishel Real Estate, which manages 165 of the roughly 425 units at Century Townhomes.
“As far as I know, the association is current on any current charges,” he said. The association collects money from unit owners and managers, then pays the water and sewage bills on their behalf, he added.
Those combined charges run about $35,000 a month for the whole complex, Mr. Davidson said.
Pennsylvania American is a subsidiary of Voorhees, N.J.-based American Water, a publicly traded company.