PWSA, city to rework old pact

Current agreement viewed as outdated

An agreement that helps set the relationship between Pittsburgh and its biggest water supplier is about to be rewritten.

With a 4-0 vote, the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority agreed Monday to open talks with city government over how the two entities should work together and compensate each other. Board member Chaton Turner missed the vote.

The decision means an effective end to a nearly 25-year pact under which PWSA pays about $7 million to the city annually. Each side provides some services and provisions that support the other, but the old agreement is outdated and doesn’t reflect current operations, board chairman Paul Leger said.

“We want to make sure we’re clarifying this as to who pays what — for what — and who’s ultimately responsible,” Mr. Leger said. “I don’t want anybody to be damaged in this negotiation. I want this to be straight-up responsibility.”

Negotiations are expected to wrap up within 90 days, according to PWSA. A reworked, newly itemized agreement will require approval from both city council and the PWSA board, Mr. Leger said.

The new document will cover technical matters such as pension payments for PWSA workers, the city government’s usage of water, and whether PWSA, a municipal authority, will continue to be exempted from normal rates for certain permit fees. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, which began regulating PWSA last year, has raised some issues involving payments made to the city, Mr. Leger said.

“They believe the ratepayers need to be considered” when such transactions are developed, said Robert Weimar, the PWSA executive director. Some PWSA ratepayers — such as those in Millvale — live outside city limits.

Among the items that PWSA could begin covering: about $2 million a year in pension payments for a few hundred PWSA workers under the city’s pension plan. The city pays that expense now.

At the same time, the new agreement could require all city facilities to be metered — and billed — for their water use. Right now, city-owned properties are allowed a total of 600 million gallons of free water each year from PWSA.

“But we don’t really know how many gallons [are used] because most of the city facilities have no meters,” Mr. Leger said. PWSA is already looking to bolster metering at those public properties and elsewhere.

Mayor Bill Peduto supported the PWSA board’s decision Monday, according to his office. The move falls in line with a recommendation from a mayoral advisory panel in 2017 and with the PUC, which favors a revised

cooperation agreement, PWSA said.

Under a long-term lease, the utility manages the cityowned water and sewer-conveyance systems that serve most of Pittsburgh. The new cooperation agreement would not affect the city’s ownership, according to PWSA.

Monday also marked the first time PWSA board members met publicly since Friday, when state Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced 161 criminal charges against the utility. The charges stem from what Mr. Shapiro called the botched handling of some lead service line replacements in 2016 and 2017.

Pressed for comment, PWSA officials reiterated disappointment in the charges, which the utility has vowed to challenge. Board member Deborah Gross said Mr. Shapiro’s case deals with matters the authority has already addressed.

If fines materialize, she said, she would like to see money from the penalties go toward strengthening PWSA’s infrastructure.

“We’ve been working really hard to fix this infrastructure, and we need every dollar,” Ms. Gross said.