Peduto says it would cost Pittsburgh $411M to replace lead water lines
The price tag for fixing the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority's outdated pipes and water treatment equipment is $4 billion to $5 billion, and that doesn't include lead water line replacement or paying off $750 million in debt, Mayor Bill Peduto said Friday.
Addressing a panel of experts he has assembled to help resolve PWSA's chronic problems, Peduto said it would cost the authority another $411 million to replace lead service lines and $1 billion more to pay off PWSA's $750 million debt.
“We are looking at over the next 20 years an investment needed to be able to provide safe drinking water of $4 billion to $5 billion on top of a $1 billion debt,” the mayor said. “We would be basically increasing rates on an average of double in order to be able to make that, possibly triple.”
Peduto appointed seven government, nonprofit, academic and business executives to a blue-ribbon panel that will oversee restructuring of PWSA. The panel held its first meeting in the City-County Building, Downtown, attended by more than 100 residents and clean-water activists.
Read more: http://triblive.com/local/allegheny/12138882-74/peduto-says-it-would-cost-pittsburgh-411m-to-replace-lead-water-lines
