House Speaker calls for private role in fixing Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority

Pennsylvania Speaker of the House Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny) called on Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto and city council Wednesday to work with the private sector and organized labor on the issues facing the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (PWSA).

“Yesterday we learned that labor unions representing the construction trades are working with Peoples Water to offer a partnership to fix Pittsburgh’s longstanding water issues,” Turzai said. “This latest initiative is in addition to offers that have been made over the past couple years from multiple utilities to privatize the PWSA outright. It is time Mayor Peduto and city council take the calls seriously and work with the private sector and organized labor on a path forward.”

The Pittsburgh Regional Building and Construction Trades Council recently wrote a letter asking Mayor Bill Peduto and city council to support Peoples Water’s bid to build a $350 million drinking water plant on the Allegheny River. The facility is part of Peoples Water’s proposed partnership plan with the city to rebuild its entire water infrastructure.

“PWSA continues to be grossly mismanaged, as it has been for decades, which forced the Legislature to take action placing the PWSA under PUC oversight,” Turzai said, referring to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. “Mayor Peduto and city council need to take the calls of the private sector and organized labor to help provide safe drinking water to the people of Pittsburgh seriously.”