Water, wastewater utilities bill becomes law

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Gov. Tom Wolf recently signed into law legislation that allows regulated water and wastewater utilities to replace lateral pipelines leading to homes when there is a public health issue.

Public health concerns include lead contamination. The law allows utilities to replace infrastructure in communities that still use lead distribution pipes coming into homes and sewers that poses environmental hazards.

Legislators had written language into this year’s fiscal code to permit municipal governments and municipal authorities to replace homeowners’ water and sewer infrastructure when there is a public health concern. The language did not include the state’s regulated water and wastewater utilities.

“As I’ve outlined many times, our infrastructure is crumbling, and that includes our critical water and wastewater structures,” Rep. Alex Charlton (R-Delaware), who introduced the bill, said.

Wolf also signed in law a bill allowing storage units to offer insurance to cover damage or loss to personal property stored at a storage facility. The insurance would be available for purchase when the rental contract agreement is signed.

Consumer protection standards and disclosures that the storage facility owner must adhere to also were included in the bill.

Content insurance is something consumers and self-storage proprietors have asked for, Charlton said.