The city cannot tolerate more PWSA failure,

The city cannot tolerate more PWSA failure

The latest debacle involving the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority forced about 100,000 residents to boil their drinking water from Tuesday afternoon to noon Thursday. While city officials and some experts have downplayed the risk posed by the low chlorine levels found in the water, that does not change the salient facts: PWSA was out of compliance with state standards for drinking water and much of the city was inconvenienced as a result.

No more excuses. Bernard R. Lindstrom began serving as interim executive director in September. If he is not up to the job, he must go. If employees are falling down on the job, they must be sent on their way. If PWSA board members aren’t up to their oversight responsibilities, they should step down or be forced to resign. It’s time for Mayor Bill Peduto to sharpen his ax and show that he’s as tired of PWSA’s screw-ups as the rest of us are.

Instead, he and his chief of staff, Kevin Acklin, downplayed the violation. Mr. Peduto said the water met federal standards and would be considered safe in any other state. Mr. Acklin called the problem a “technical issue, not a waterquality issue.” It was both, and if the lead crisis in Flint, Mich., showed anything, it was the need for public officials to double down on drinking water standards.

The city has a membrane filtration system to screen out contaminants, including giardia, a parasite that causes intestinal problems. Chlorine is a second source of protection against giardia. When a test showed low levels of chlorine in the PWSA’s water, the state Department of Environmental Protection ordered the boil-water advisory, which affected about half of the PWSA’s customers. In addition to the inconvenience customers faced at home, the advisory affected operations at restaurants and other businesses, led to the closure of 22 city schools and two early-childhood education centers for a day and forced nearly a dozen fire stations to take on the additional role of water distribution centers.

The boil-water advisory was lifted Thursday after the proper chlorine level had been restored.

The chlorine debacle was another sign of organizational chaos and slipshod management at PWSA, which in recent years has made headlines for the hiring of political hacks, an illegal line warranty program, stormwater-management problems, inaccurate billing, customer-service complaints, a legal dispute with its former management firm, a rebuke from the DEP for changing treatment chemicals without permission and the botched hiring of Mr. Lindstrom’s predecessor, Kenneth Charles Griffin, whose performance at a previous job raised questions. For putting up with all that, PWSA customers were socked with a 13 percent rate increase this year.

If it wants to get ahead, Pittsburgh needs a stable water system. Bike lanes and riverfront trails won’t mean much to prospective residents and employers if the city’s drinking water has to be boiled.

If the city no longer has the wherewithal to operate its own water system, it should consider selling to Pennsylvania-American Water Co., a publicly traded utility that already provides service to some of the city’s western and southern neighborhoods. City residents served by Pennsylvania-American were unaffected by PWSA’s boil-water advisory.

City council members want state Attorney General Josh Shapiro or state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale to review PWSA’s operations. Additional outside views may help, but city officials must take ownership of this agency. That means finding out what caused a drop in the chlorine level and making sure it never happens again.

In August, Mr. Peduto called for an “overhaul of the culture” at PWSA. We’re waiting.