Aqua Pa. plans $323M in capital investments in 2019

Projects are part of a $555 million program in 8 states

Aqua Pennsylvania plans to invest $323 million in water and wastewater infrastructure upgrades in Pennsylvania in 2019.

That figure includes nearly $293 million in investments in Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties.

The announcement was made by parent company Aqua America during the seventh annual Infrastructure Week, aimed at raising awareness of the critical state of infrastructure across the United States.

The Pennsylvania investments are part of the company’s plan to spend $555 million to improve systems across its eight state footprint.

“Our mission is protecting and providing earth’s most valuable resource — delivering water to customers across the state. What does that mean? When we take it out of our creeks and streams and treat and deliver it, we are bound to customers and have a commitment to environment,” Marc Lucca, Aqua Pennsylvania president, said in an interview with MediaNews Group.

As infrastructure pipes below ground age, according to Lucca, they leak and become more susceptible to main breaks.

“As it leaks, it is wasted — it is lost water. It is water we have taken, we treat and it never gets to our customers,” he said. “When we allow water to escape, we miss the mark to handle resources in a responsible way.”

The condition of water infrastructure in the U.S. has been well documented, according to the company. In a recent study published by Utah State University, researchers found water main break rates have increased 27% in the past six years alone. The EPA also reports that there are approximately 240,000 water main breaks per year in the U.S., with approximately $2.6 billion lost as water mains leak trillions of gallons of treated drinking water.

In 2019, a large part of Aqua Pennsylvania’s $323 million capital infrastructure program will be spent replacing aging water mains. Aqua credits its ongoing main replacement program with a dramatic reduction in service interruptions caused by main breaks in southeastern Pennsylvania.

According to Lucca, in 2000, the number of main breaks per 100 miles of pipe was 25. Through the end of 2018, the

SUBMITTED PHOTO Aqua Pennsylvania plans to invest $323 million in water and wastewater infrastructure upgrades in Pennsylvania in 2019. That figure includes nearly $293 million in investments in Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties. Among the projects is the one shown here, on High Avenue in Abington, Montgomery County, where crews are replacing aging cast iron pipe.

SUBMITTED PHOTO Aqua Pennsylvania has several area projects underway as part of ongoing infrastructure investments. Shown here is a project on Gay Street in West Chester, Chester County, where crews are replacing a water main.