November 20, 2024 • 28 mins
PWSA is now: Pittsburgh Water. Pittsburgh Water, a simplified name that inspires better understanding of the life-essential services that Pittsburgh Water provides. Tap in to lear more at https://www.pgh2o.com/
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
And welcome in This is the CEOs You Should Know podcast.
I'm your host Johnny Hartwell, let's say alo to Will
Pickering of Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority. Thank you for
being with me.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Now, it's my pleasure, Johnny, great to be with you.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
You have big news we do.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
We are now known as Pittsburgh Water. We're technically still
the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority. A lot of folks
referred to us previously through an acronym PWSA, and we're
really retiring that and we want us to embrace a
one water approach. We are Pittsburgh Water. Simplifying things, all right,
So yeah, is that why you're doing it? It is
(00:37):
you know, in talking to customers, even my friends and family,
you know, I would say I worked at PWSA or
led PWSA, and it kind of nod, But then you
got the sense I have no idea what that is.
And so you know, in government and in technical spaces,
we often use acronyms and it's confusing and we found
you know, hey, let's just be clear with our customers
what we are. We're responsible for water. Let's be pitts
(01:00):
Burg Water, clear and simple Pittsburgh Water. But what exactly
do you do? Sure, So, we are the drinking water
utility for most of the city of Pittsburgh. We also
are responsible for taking that used drinking water and conveying
it through our sewer system throughout the entire city of Pittsburgh,
and we provide stormwater management services within the city. And
(01:21):
a little known fact is we actually provide what we
call bulkwater treated drinking water to some surrounding municipalities outside
of the City of Pittsburgh as well.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
All right, so what is the difference between Pittsburgh Water
and Alka San.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Sure? So, Alkasan is a county level authority that is
responsible when that used water flows through our sewer system,
it needs to be treated before it's returned to the
Ohio River, and Alka San is that wastewater treatment entity.
So there are partners that's sort of that water travels.
They are the end of the road, final step of treatment,
(01:54):
and it's one full circle from there on. Alt Johnny,
do you find people understand exactly what you do? No,
And I mentioned friends and family. It's sort of evolving
and trying to explain all of the things that we're
responsible for doing. And appreciating so much that goes on
behind the scenes that our employees do day in and
day out twenty four to seven. That allow us to
be in a building like this today, that allow us
(02:15):
to have the beautiful fountains and recreational features we have
within the city, the theaters, the stadiums, all of that
relies on us to be able to have safe and
dependable water twenty four to seven.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
It's kind of ironic. You provide something that is vitally
important to the Pittsburgh community, yet we don't really understand
what you do.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Yeah, and it's sort of been typical for our industry.
You know, we are literally buried underground, and a lot
of the philosophy was if we could kind of be
with our pipes and hide behind the scenes and keep
things quiet, that was a sign that we were doing
the right things. But you know, that philosophy really hasn't
paid off in terms of where we're seeing people value
(02:57):
the services and everything. As you know, and everyone listening knows,
our household bills are going up. It's more expensive to
own and operate a water system, and so we need
our customers to appreciate really what we're up to. And
what we're doing on their behalf.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Probably one question you get a lot is what is
the quality of Pittsburgh water? You know, Pittsburgh water. Our
source of drinking water is the Alleghany River, which is
a really high quality source. We're very lucky there isn't
the legacy industry along the Alleghany. The headwaters of the
Alleghany actually begin in western New York and they flow downward.
(03:32):
We're able to pool from the Alleghany River and we
treat it to serve. On an average day, we serve
about half a million people, including all of the visitors
and students and everyone within the city of Pittsburgh, so
that what we call a raw drinking water is fantastic.
Our drinking water treatment plant that's along the Allegheny River
near Waterwork, small in the City of Pittsburgh. It does
(03:54):
a fantastic job. You're treating our drinking water to a
really high level. So our customer and if you're ever
in the city drinking our water, it can be confident
that the quality of our water is very high. Because
you know, that's been a fairly you know, explosive issue.
You know, you hear, you know, various places with you know,
the water has you know lead, you know, pipes and
(04:16):
things like that. But you've done quite not only have
you had a name change, you've had quite a number
of other changes, including lead replacement.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
That's absolutely right, Johnny, and I think our team felt
it was really important before we approached anything like a
name change, that we got to the basics and did
them right and did right by our customers. And I'm
really proud that we're an organization that is at that
stage to sort of reintroduce ourselves to our customers. We
did have a lead and drinking water issue in twenty sixteen,
(04:48):
right around the same time there's a lot of national
discussion about Flint, Michigan. Much different set of circumstances there.
But quite honestly, the treatment failed in the city of
Pittsburgh and we needed to adjust and adapt. So we
improve the way that we treat our drinking water for
homes that may have what we call lead service lines.
So we have thousands of miles of pipe throughout our system,
(05:11):
but the only parts that have lead in them is
a small diameter pipe that attaches the home to the
water main in the street. Not every home in the
city of Pittsburgh has lead or had lead, but a
significant portion given we're an older city and it was
normal at the time we built the homes to have lead,
so our treatment was designed to control for that. Really,
(05:33):
we add an additive at the treatment plant that coats
the lead pipe that prevents the treated water from coming
into contact with the lead and drawing it into the building.
So that's something that we have improved upon. Our lead
levels at homes that still have lead pipes have never
been recorded lower. We're extremely proud about that. So our
treatment is optimized for that risk. But the science says
(05:55):
there's no safe level of lead, and that's why we
have been really with our foot on the gas to
replace all the lead lines that are in our system,
and where we sit today, we've replaced about twelve thousand
of those lead service lines. We know we're well over
the hump of halfway there and we're going to continue
the job until we get it all done.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
All right, So how do you find those lead pipes?
Do you have to go door to door?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
You know, in essence, that's where we are at this point.
You know, I mentioned Pittsburgh was an older city. A
lot of the records that we unearthed when we tried
to wrap our arms around this issue in twenty seventeen
and twenty eighteen. We're paper records, handwritten on index cards,
beautiful penmanship by these individuals, but you know, not in
a computer system, not easily searchable, not tied to any mapping.
(06:37):
So we've digitized those records, but a lot of them
we found are incomplete or one hundred years old. A
lot of things change, So we have essentially been going
block by block, interacting with customers, getting in their basements,
taking a look at the line itself if we can
see it, Digging in front yards, digging in sidewalks. It's
extremely disruptive, but it's so important that we get the
(06:58):
job done and get every little bit out of this lice.
So when did you start? When did you take over
as CEO twenty twenty? Okay, heck of a time, right, yeah,
a heck of a time.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Yeah, in the middle of everything, and then you have
to you have to digitize everything and replace all these
lead pipes and everything else. So your work has been
cut out for you.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
It really has been. And it's interesting the rules coming
out of the Environmental Protection Agency, which is you know,
really what guides the standards for drinking water in our country.
They've sort of caught up to what we're doing. So
it's you know, we embarked on a program where we said,
no matter who owns which part of the service line,
we are going to replace it all at no cost
(07:34):
to our customers. Most utilities weren't approaching lead in that
way really, and they were only sometimes just replacing half
a pipe and leaving lead in the ground, and we determined,
you know, that wasn't the right thing to do. The
regulations just coming out of the EPA here in the
last few months have mirrored our policy. So the national
standards are catching up to the things that we voluntarily
did to make sure that we went about this program
(07:56):
the right way for a customer.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Well, compare Pittsburgh to maybe sit of similar size. Are
we doing better than a lot of those cities?
Speaker 2 (08:03):
A lot of them? We are way ahead. And you know,
I try to go to conferences and interact with other
leaders of similar water utilities. Some have hundreds of thousands
of lead service lines within their system. Big cities like
Chicago and New York just have you know, their massive cities,
but they also just have a ton of lead that
they need to get out and they have not started
(08:24):
their replacement program in earnest, whereas we started in about
twenty seventeen, and our goal is to be completed in
twenty twenty seven. So, you know, I hope to come
back on your show and talk about that day when
we can confidently say no home is served with a
lead service line and that's no longer at risk.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
So there was kind of a ten year plan and
you came in right smack dab in the middle of it.
So what kind of challenge was that for you? Well,
it's interesting. You know my career trajectory at Pittsburgh Water.
I started out as a communications public affairs person, so
I had the benefit of being in the room with
the leadership at the time and helping to communicate these
programs to the customers. So I came in day one,
(09:02):
I was promoted to a deputy executive director level and
then CEO. So I knew the organization fairly well, but
definitely took advantage of the opportunity that was presented in
what's called the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. So within the last
couple of years, there have been more federal grant dollars
on the table for projects like our LED service line
(09:22):
replacement then than ever will maybe be again in our lifetime,
and so our organization is really focused on getting those
dollars so that we can complete this program. Because when
we get grant dollars, those are dollars we don't need
to ask of our customers to pay for. Okay, I
was going to ask that, you know, with the improvements,
is that going to you know, ultimately mean that we're
(09:43):
going to pay more for our water for.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
For issues that we cannot find grant dollars for. Sometimes,
you know, we do need to increase rates. However, this
work is going to be done far in advance, like
we talked about of other utilities, So if people were
served by other drinking water utilities that are kind of
catching up to this work, they can expect to see
those expenses. But you know, while those grant dollars are
on the table we are focused on we have to
(10:07):
compete for them across the state, and we've been really successful.
We've received about one hundred and sixty million dollars in
grant assistance for this program. And as we discuss, some
utilities are just sort of getting the ducks in a
row to start their program. So we're ahead of the
game there, and my focus has been on trying to
keep our rates affordable while we really do this ambitious work.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Well, but you get what you pay for, and you
want quality water. That's that's that has to be paramount, right.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
It is, And it kind of goes back to us
being a little undervalued as an industry. If you I
think about my household bills and I don't want to
tell you what I pay for my cable and internet
and cell phone, and and I don't really believe.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
I'll be honest with you. I don't know. There's so
many different cable you know, you know apps that I'm
paying for. Well, yeah, absolutely, I get it.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
I get it. You know, we all love entertainment, right,
but getting back necessarily life essential. Sure, And so I
think you for a long time in Pittsburgh Water it
was guilty of this to some extent. There was an
intentional effort to keep rates as low as possible, again
kind of remaining out of sight, out of mind, but
missing you know, the point that this is really essential
(11:13):
work that you need to maintain the system, you need
to improve upon it, you need to find new technologies,
and there was a period of several decades where the
system really was stagnant. We weren't investing in the system.
So rates might have been flat, but we weren't, you know,
doing what we needed to do. And so a lot
of what we're catching up on now is decades of disinvestment. So,
(11:33):
you know, one of the reasons I'm happy to be
on the show is just to remind people, whether you're
Pittsburgh water customer or not, you know, being able to
turn on the tap and you know that water flows
away somewhere, it's really a miracle. There's a lot of
work that goes on behind the scenes, and to your point,
it's not free and you get what you pay for.
If you want high quality service, if you want infrastructure improvements,
(11:54):
the funding has to come from somewhere.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
All right, you just mentioned high quality. How many How
do you test the quality of the water. What's what
goes into that process.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Yeah, it's a great question, Johnny, So I mentioned we
have that water treatment plan along the Allegheny River. We
have a certified laboratory there that conducts routine testing of
that water coming in the treatment plant, as well as
the water leaving the treatment plant, making sure that we
have proper disinfection, making sure that we get the things
that you pull in from the river, the settlement, the silts,
(12:25):
things along those lines filtered out. And then we have
thousands of miles of pipes throughout our service territory that
we monitor on a proactive basis to make sure that
the water that's on individual streets and buildings is still
maintaining that high quality water, making sure there's again enough disinfection,
making sure that it is meeting all of the EPA
(12:46):
standards and exceeding them, which is our goal, and we've
been able to do so. There are thousands of tests
across our system that we're performing, again with little fanfare,
but you happen to see someone in a lab coat
opening up a fire hydrant, what they're doing is actually
testing that water quality on your block to make sure
that it's meeting our standards.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Wow, all right, what about green energy? What is Pittsburgh
Water doing to you know, conserve our energy.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Yeah, it's really fascinating. Before I joined, you know, a
water utility, I did not fully appreciate how much energy
it takes to operate a drinking water system in a
sewer system too. Alcacanne is also a huge power user.
If you think about how heavy a gallon of water is,
or you pick up a gallon of milk at the
grocery store. We are moving sixty five million gallons of
(13:39):
treated drinking water throughout the city of Pittsburgh, all of
the hills, all of that topography that we're managing. We're
doing that on a sixty five million gallons per day.
That takes a lot of pumps, which draw on a
lot of energy. For us, a lot of our pumps
are reaching the end of their life. We're replacing them
with more efficient pumps. But you know, we're one do
(14:00):
Cane Light's favorite customers. We pay a very large power bill,
and we partnered with the City of Pittsburgh and the
Sports and Exhibition Authority of Pittsburgh to come together and
do what's called a bulk power purchase agreement where we
are purchasing our agreement our energy from green sources. So,
you know, we know we had an opportunity to make
(14:21):
an impact and buy clean energy. Since we were such
a big user, we're sort of the biggest out of
that consortium, we could kind of throw our weight around
and make sure that the energy that we are purchasing
is coming from those renewable sources like solar and wind
and things like that.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
You mentioned topography. That has to be a huge challenge
when it comes to Pittsburgh, because not only do you
service millions of people, the roads and the topography has
got to be a nightmare for a utility such as yourself.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
It really is fascinating. I'd like to talk to some
of the original builders of the city why they chose
to plan neighborhoods on some of the steep hillsides. And
I live in Mount Washington and the city of Pittsburgh.
I'm victim of it. There's beautiful views up on these hills, right,
but the engineering that is required to make sure that
both water and sewer can be delivered to these homes
at different altitudes presents a constant challenge. Sort of an
(15:13):
example of that. You know, we're pushing water uphill and
there's a main break. Often it's very easy to lose
pressure because you know all of that topography. You need
to maintain a high level of pressure. A break in
the system or a power outage can cause you know,
a low pressure event or a no pressure event which
gives us fits and we want to make sure we
(15:34):
do everything we can to minimize. So, you know, those
are just some of the examples. On the water and
sewer side. We also manage storm water, so making sure
that the water coming off of some of those hillsides
can enter of what we call stormwater management system to
slow down some of that flow so we prevent sewer
backups in flooding. It's sort of a never ending challenge
(15:57):
in a city like Pittsburgh. We will manage to get
through it. We managed to somehow drive on some of
these goat paths that people call streets in all weather.
You know, I'm still I think I'm still learning fifteen
or so years into living here. So but it definitely
presents a challenge. You know, when I talk to other utilities,
and we were chatting before we started this, you know,
a Kansas city or in Iowa have no idea what
(16:19):
I'm talking about when we're talking about topography and the
lead service line angle of it is interesting too. If
you think about every home you see in the city
of Pittsburgh has a retaining wall. We need to make
sure that the water main in the street is serving
that home that is up at a higher elevation, and
when we're replacing that connection from the water main in
(16:39):
the street to the home, we often have to navigate
that retaining wall, concrete steps, things like that, you know,
with with little damage to the property itself. It's it's
really a challenge that other utilities. If you think about
a Baltimore style row home with you two feet and
you're on the sidewalk, which we would envy in most instances,
(16:59):
it presents a lot of challenges, but we're really lucky
to have a team that can work through them all.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
One thing that we take pride in with Pittsburgh is
that we we all live in our little community. But
yet you know, like nobody lives in Pittsburgh, we all
have our little spot. You have to deal with a
number of municipalities. Does that present a challenge for you
as well?
Speaker 2 (17:19):
You know, we have really good relationship with our municipal partners.
It's you know, a.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Well, you provide something that we all desperately need, right.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
That's all right. It's so you know, there there are
times when you know, the I am a government affairs
background person and I have to kind of put back
on that inner governmental hat and navigate some challenges. But
you know, what our hope really is is people see
the value in the product we're providing and we can
work together. The borough of Millvale, which is you know,
(17:48):
sort of small but really known for its brewery scene,
a very water intensive product, is actually within our water
service territory. So it's sort of that's an additional municipality
outside of Pittsburgh that we operate with, and we're on
the cusp of replacing all of the lead in that borough.
So we're really excited about that. You know, even though
they're not within the City of Pittsburgh boundaries, they're in
our service territory and we've been able to help them out.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
What about the stadiums that's within your your your your area?
So is that does that present a challenge because there's
a lot of cities that don't have those large stadiums
in downtown. But that's that's right in right downtown.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
That's right, Yeah, between P and C Park and Nakroshured Stadium.
I think I said that right still hintsfield, you know,
in the theaters in the arena for you know, different
special events in hockey. Obviously, we need to make sure
that we have adequate water and wastewater for you know,
those events. Sometimes they happen in the same thing day, Yeah, right,
(18:45):
and so we see these large fluctuations and spikes and usage.
We're talking about the NFL draft coming here, and you
know what what that might mean in terms of the
service that we need to provide when we have all
these hundreds of thousands of people visiting Pittsburgh and flushing
toilets and running taxg pain.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
So you've got the Convention Center, p and C Park,
Actressure all within just a small area that presents quite
a challenges, doesn't it.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
It really does in the hotels and everything there downtown.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
So tell me a little bit about your team. How
large of organization is Pittsburgh Water.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
So we're about four hundred employees as we stand now.
We've grown here in the last few years because we've recognized,
especially when it comes to repairing and maintenance out in
what we called out in the field, out in our
service territory, that we needed more bodies to keep up
with adequate maintenance, to respond to leaks and main breaks,
to make sure that we were dispatching crews in a
(19:37):
timely manner. About two thirds of our workforce are those
frontline employees making sure that we're operating and maintaining our
drinking water and sewer systems. And then we have a
robust customer service department, very focused on providing not just
responsive customer service, but helpful customer service so that when
our customers call with an issue can be resolved in
(19:59):
that one phone call. In in addition, they're really focused
on getting people assistance if they're having a hard time
keeping up with their water and sewer bills. And then
we've got engineering and construction. We have our water treatment
plant we call water production. We have leadership at the
treatment plan itself to make sure that we're treating the
water adequately. I mentioned our laboratory. We've got attorneys, we've
(20:22):
got you know, executives like myself. We're really lucky to
have an awesome team that is really focused on our
core mission, which is, you know, protecting public health and
in the environment through the services we provide.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
You talked to you just mentioned just about a minute
ago about if somebody is having trouble paying their bill,
what kind of what kind of framework do you have
to help individuals who are having difficulty paying that bill.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
We're really proud of what we have developed over the
last few years. We talked about the cost of our
service rising just because of how much activity that we
have going on right now and the catchup that we
have to do. But there was a realization that there
was a portion of our customer base that was having
a hard time keeping up to date, and so we
have a program of essentially a pro rated rate. If
(21:06):
you meet certain income limitations it's two hundred percent of
the federal poverty level. You get a different rate than
a normal customer. We have opportunities for one time cash
assistance for let's say there was a leak in the
household and the bill was extraordinarily high. If they meet
certain income requirements, they can get one time assistance there.
We also have a program I'm really proud of for properties,
(21:29):
again meeting certain income eligibility. If we believe that there's
a leak, we actually our meeters can provide data on
a minute by minute basis so that we can provide
you a text message if we think you had your
Pittsburgh party is running. I'm guilty of that. I got
the text message. I should have known better. But if
we have those instances at a home that may already
(21:50):
be having a hard time keeping up with their bill,
we will dispatch a plumber to that location and they
can install things like low flow fixtures, they can fix
that leak to help resolve, you know, those high bill
situations that could be avoided through curtailing some of the
water use. So, you know what, I would encourage anyone
listening if they know of someone that is having a
(22:11):
hard time keeping up with their bill or think they
may be eligible, to give us a call. Go to
pghtwoo dot com. You can see a listing of all
of our programs. We also have some specific programs for
lead service line replacement, so that if you were eventually
going to get to everyone, but if you want to
hire a plumber and do the work yourself, we will
reimburse you for at least a portion of that work.
(22:31):
So sort of no matter what you're interested in, I
would encourage people who are our customers to take a
look at those programs.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Stock will What is your background, Yeah, it's.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Sort of you know, for a utility leader, non traditional background.
I mentioned I was a you know, government affairs person.
I grew up out west in the Bay Area of California,
but my mom was a Pittsburgher, so I spent a
lot of time at my grandmother's house here in summers
in Pittsburgh, so I always had a relationship ship with Pittsburgh.
Spent before moving to Pittsburgh, spent my professional career in Washington,
(23:04):
d C. Working at local and federal government levels. The
last job I held there was with DC's Water and
Sewer utility, which is sort of a massive regional organization there.
And met my wife, who was a Pittsburgher in DC,
and you know, we were spending weekends here. Anyways, we said,
why are we still living in DC. Let's move to Pittsburgh.
(23:25):
It's livable, we have our family, better sports teams obviously,
you know, let's just go ahead and do it. And
it just happened to be that there was an opportunity
at Pittsburgh Water right as everything was kind of coming
to a head on the concern about lead and drinking
water and sort of a trial by fire experience that
(23:45):
I wouldn't trade for the world, Johnny, because I got
to see our organization really turn around the ship and
do right by our customers. So it's been really fantastic
experience coming in focused on communications PR and then just
learning the utility more broadly as deputy executive director and
now CEO for four and a half years, really blessed
with an awesome team that I want to shure everyone
(24:05):
listening is really in it for the right reasons, and
that's you know, protecting our drinking water and protecting them.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
So when you took over four and a half years ago,
what has been your biggest challenge?
Speaker 2 (24:15):
I would say, there's just no lack of things that
we would like to do, So it's you know, I
guess it all boils down to dollars and cents and
making sure that you know, our engineering team can identify
sort of a numerous an endless number of projects that
we could be pursuing, but we need to be mindful
of the dollars that we get that are either coming
(24:38):
through grants or loans from the federal and state government
or directly from our rate payers, that we're using those
dollars strategically and wisely to the most benefit. So prioritizing
those projects is something that's a constant challenge because we
feel that we could always be doing more, and there's
you know, in any aging system like we have. We
(25:00):
have core components that are one hundred and twenty years
old at our water treatment plant that we're getting around
to replacing, and we're really focused on those with those
ones that if they no longer function, We're having a
much different, less pleasant conversation on this show because we're
having a hard time providing drinking water to everyone, So
prioritizing that is I think the biggest challenge.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
In the last four and a half years. What are
you most proud of? What have you accomplished that you
say people should know about this?
Speaker 2 (25:28):
The assistance programs is a big one. I think balancing
that need to advance our projects and how expensive they are.
We're talking about investing over a billion dollars over the
next five years. In balancing that with the human impact.
I think my background in dealing with customers from the
public affairs and communications respect has been helpful because I
(25:49):
know these are hard working families that are doing everything
they can to keep up with their bill. We need
to be thinking about them as we make these investments
in our assistance programs. Has allowed us to address that.
There you know, if someone there was a time when
someone would come to me and say I'm having a
hard time keeping up with my bill and I didn't
really have a good place to direct them. And now
I can say, call our team. We will get you
(26:12):
the help that you need. And largely it's been very
successful in that program is growing, people are enrolling in it,
which means that we take it seriously. I'm not just
paying lip service to it. We want people to take
advantage of that help. And then the other part is
you know, doing you know, I can't, I can't take
credit for much of this, Johnny. This has been a
team effort. But really having our team professionalize and thinking
(26:34):
about as Pittsburgh Water, you know, is really just this
refreshed look that we are professional utility focused on public health,
that we're in it for the right reasons. We're not
a crusty old government agency that's trying to you know,
lurk behind the scenes and stay out of the spotlight.
We really want to be open and transparent with our
customers and again do right by them by you know,
(26:57):
sort of everything we're doing. And anecdotally, you know, I
don't always get positive feedback, but I get a lot
more positive feedback from people on the street including my family.
You know, over the last four or five years.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
You've simplified the name Pittsburgh Water, but you also simplified
the website and it's brilliant. P G H two. Oh
that's right. Who came up with that idea?
Speaker 2 (27:19):
You know, I wish I could take credit for that one.
You know, I should find that person and pat them
on the back. It is. It's a great use of
you know, what we all know is the abbreviation for
Pittsburgh and our core service, which is water.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
All right, what is the one thing you want people
to know about Pittsburgh Water.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
I want them to know that they can trust us
that the drinking water that we are pulling from the
Alligate Gainy River and treating and providing to them is
a very high quality. You know, that they should reconsider
if they are drinking bottled water, which is very expensive
and carries its negative environmental impacts in terms of the
plastic bottles, that they start to trust the tap water
(27:59):
coming in to their home. And I think that's you know,
we provide a ton of information on that website you
mentioned if people want to do research, you know, I
would love for people to be able to take that
expense off their shopping list. I think there's a false
perception that, you know, people cannot trust their tap water,
and everything that we have done to invest on their
behalf in our system is putting them in a place
where they should be able to trust the tap.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Website again pg H two o dot com, Will Pickering
of Pittsburgh Water and a CEO you Should Know will
thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
It's a lot of fun. Thanks.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
This has been the CEOs you Should Know podcast, showcasing
businesses that are driving our regional economy. Part of iHeartMedia's
commitment to the communities we serve. I'm Johnny Hartwell, thank
you so much for listener
And welcome in This is the CEOs You Should Know podcast.
I'm your host Johnny Hartwell, let's say alo to Will
Pickering of Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority. Thank you for
being with me.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Now, it's my pleasure, Johnny, great to be with you.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
You have big news we do.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
We are now known as Pittsburgh Water. We're technically still
the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority. A lot of folks
referred to us previously through an acronym PWSA, and we're
really retiring that and we want us to embrace a
one water approach. We are Pittsburgh Water. Simplifying things, all right,
So yeah, is that why you're doing it? It is
(00:37):
you know, in talking to customers, even my friends and family,
you know, I would say I worked at PWSA or
led PWSA, and it kind of nod, But then you
got the sense I have no idea what that is.
And so you know, in government and in technical spaces,
we often use acronyms and it's confusing and we found
you know, hey, let's just be clear with our customers
what we are. We're responsible for water. Let's be pitts
(01:00):
Burg Water, clear and simple Pittsburgh Water. But what exactly
do you do? Sure, So, we are the drinking water
utility for most of the city of Pittsburgh. We also
are responsible for taking that used drinking water and conveying
it through our sewer system throughout the entire city of Pittsburgh,
and we provide stormwater management services within the city. And
(01:21):
a little known fact is we actually provide what we
call bulkwater treated drinking water to some surrounding municipalities outside
of the City of Pittsburgh as well.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
All right, so what is the difference between Pittsburgh Water
and Alka San.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Sure? So, Alkasan is a county level authority that is
responsible when that used water flows through our sewer system,
it needs to be treated before it's returned to the
Ohio River, and Alka San is that wastewater treatment entity.
So there are partners that's sort of that water travels.
They are the end of the road, final step of treatment,
(01:54):
and it's one full circle from there on. Alt Johnny,
do you find people understand exactly what you do? No,
And I mentioned friends and family. It's sort of evolving
and trying to explain all of the things that we're
responsible for doing. And appreciating so much that goes on
behind the scenes that our employees do day in and
day out twenty four to seven. That allow us to
be in a building like this today, that allow us
(02:15):
to have the beautiful fountains and recreational features we have
within the city, the theaters, the stadiums, all of that
relies on us to be able to have safe and
dependable water twenty four to seven.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
It's kind of ironic. You provide something that is vitally
important to the Pittsburgh community, yet we don't really understand
what you do.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Yeah, and it's sort of been typical for our industry.
You know, we are literally buried underground, and a lot
of the philosophy was if we could kind of be
with our pipes and hide behind the scenes and keep
things quiet, that was a sign that we were doing
the right things. But you know, that philosophy really hasn't
paid off in terms of where we're seeing people value
(02:57):
the services and everything. As you know, and everyone listening knows,
our household bills are going up. It's more expensive to
own and operate a water system, and so we need
our customers to appreciate really what we're up to. And
what we're doing on their behalf.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Probably one question you get a lot is what is
the quality of Pittsburgh water? You know, Pittsburgh water. Our
source of drinking water is the Alleghany River, which is
a really high quality source. We're very lucky there isn't
the legacy industry along the Alleghany. The headwaters of the
Alleghany actually begin in western New York and they flow downward.
(03:32):
We're able to pool from the Alleghany River and we
treat it to serve. On an average day, we serve
about half a million people, including all of the visitors
and students and everyone within the city of Pittsburgh, so
that what we call a raw drinking water is fantastic.
Our drinking water treatment plant that's along the Allegheny River
near Waterwork, small in the City of Pittsburgh. It does
(03:54):
a fantastic job. You're treating our drinking water to a
really high level. So our customer and if you're ever
in the city drinking our water, it can be confident
that the quality of our water is very high. Because
you know, that's been a fairly you know, explosive issue.
You know, you hear, you know, various places with you know,
the water has you know lead, you know, pipes and
(04:16):
things like that. But you've done quite not only have
you had a name change, you've had quite a number
of other changes, including lead replacement.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
That's absolutely right, Johnny, and I think our team felt
it was really important before we approached anything like a
name change, that we got to the basics and did
them right and did right by our customers. And I'm
really proud that we're an organization that is at that
stage to sort of reintroduce ourselves to our customers. We
did have a lead and drinking water issue in twenty sixteen,
(04:48):
right around the same time there's a lot of national
discussion about Flint, Michigan. Much different set of circumstances there.
But quite honestly, the treatment failed in the city of
Pittsburgh and we needed to adjust and adapt. So we
improve the way that we treat our drinking water for
homes that may have what we call lead service lines.
So we have thousands of miles of pipe throughout our system,
(05:11):
but the only parts that have lead in them is
a small diameter pipe that attaches the home to the
water main in the street. Not every home in the
city of Pittsburgh has lead or had lead, but a
significant portion given we're an older city and it was
normal at the time we built the homes to have lead,
so our treatment was designed to control for that. Really,
(05:33):
we add an additive at the treatment plant that coats
the lead pipe that prevents the treated water from coming
into contact with the lead and drawing it into the building.
So that's something that we have improved upon. Our lead
levels at homes that still have lead pipes have never
been recorded lower. We're extremely proud about that. So our
treatment is optimized for that risk. But the science says
(05:55):
there's no safe level of lead, and that's why we
have been really with our foot on the gas to
replace all the lead lines that are in our system,
and where we sit today, we've replaced about twelve thousand
of those lead service lines. We know we're well over
the hump of halfway there and we're going to continue
the job until we get it all done.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
All right, So how do you find those lead pipes?
Do you have to go door to door?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
You know, in essence, that's where we are at this point.
You know, I mentioned Pittsburgh was an older city. A
lot of the records that we unearthed when we tried
to wrap our arms around this issue in twenty seventeen
and twenty eighteen. We're paper records, handwritten on index cards,
beautiful penmanship by these individuals, but you know, not in
a computer system, not easily searchable, not tied to any mapping.
(06:37):
So we've digitized those records, but a lot of them
we found are incomplete or one hundred years old. A
lot of things change, So we have essentially been going
block by block, interacting with customers, getting in their basements,
taking a look at the line itself if we can
see it, Digging in front yards, digging in sidewalks. It's
extremely disruptive, but it's so important that we get the
(06:58):
job done and get every little bit out of this lice.
So when did you start? When did you take over
as CEO twenty twenty? Okay, heck of a time, right, yeah,
a heck of a time.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Yeah, in the middle of everything, and then you have
to you have to digitize everything and replace all these
lead pipes and everything else. So your work has been
cut out for you.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
It really has been. And it's interesting the rules coming
out of the Environmental Protection Agency, which is you know,
really what guides the standards for drinking water in our country.
They've sort of caught up to what we're doing. So
it's you know, we embarked on a program where we said,
no matter who owns which part of the service line,
we are going to replace it all at no cost
(07:34):
to our customers. Most utilities weren't approaching lead in that
way really, and they were only sometimes just replacing half
a pipe and leaving lead in the ground, and we determined,
you know, that wasn't the right thing to do. The
regulations just coming out of the EPA here in the
last few months have mirrored our policy. So the national
standards are catching up to the things that we voluntarily
did to make sure that we went about this program
(07:56):
the right way for a customer.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Well, compare Pittsburgh to maybe sit of similar size. Are
we doing better than a lot of those cities?
Speaker 2 (08:03):
A lot of them? We are way ahead. And you know,
I try to go to conferences and interact with other
leaders of similar water utilities. Some have hundreds of thousands
of lead service lines within their system. Big cities like
Chicago and New York just have you know, their massive cities,
but they also just have a ton of lead that
they need to get out and they have not started
(08:24):
their replacement program in earnest, whereas we started in about
twenty seventeen, and our goal is to be completed in
twenty twenty seven. So, you know, I hope to come
back on your show and talk about that day when
we can confidently say no home is served with a
lead service line and that's no longer at risk.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
So there was kind of a ten year plan and
you came in right smack dab in the middle of it.
So what kind of challenge was that for you? Well,
it's interesting. You know my career trajectory at Pittsburgh Water.
I started out as a communications public affairs person, so
I had the benefit of being in the room with
the leadership at the time and helping to communicate these
programs to the customers. So I came in day one,
(09:02):
I was promoted to a deputy executive director level and
then CEO. So I knew the organization fairly well, but
definitely took advantage of the opportunity that was presented in
what's called the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. So within the last
couple of years, there have been more federal grant dollars
on the table for projects like our LED service line
(09:22):
replacement then than ever will maybe be again in our lifetime,
and so our organization is really focused on getting those
dollars so that we can complete this program. Because when
we get grant dollars, those are dollars we don't need
to ask of our customers to pay for. Okay, I
was going to ask that, you know, with the improvements,
is that going to you know, ultimately mean that we're
(09:43):
going to pay more for our water for.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
For issues that we cannot find grant dollars for. Sometimes,
you know, we do need to increase rates. However, this
work is going to be done far in advance, like
we talked about of other utilities, So if people were
served by other drinking water utilities that are kind of
catching up to this work, they can expect to see
those expenses. But you know, while those grant dollars are
on the table we are focused on we have to
(10:07):
compete for them across the state, and we've been really successful.
We've received about one hundred and sixty million dollars in
grant assistance for this program. And as we discuss, some
utilities are just sort of getting the ducks in a
row to start their program. So we're ahead of the
game there, and my focus has been on trying to
keep our rates affordable while we really do this ambitious work.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Well, but you get what you pay for, and you
want quality water. That's that's that has to be paramount, right.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
It is, And it kind of goes back to us
being a little undervalued as an industry. If you I
think about my household bills and I don't want to
tell you what I pay for my cable and internet
and cell phone, and and I don't really believe.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
I'll be honest with you. I don't know. There's so
many different cable you know, you know apps that I'm
paying for. Well, yeah, absolutely, I get it.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
I get it. You know, we all love entertainment, right,
but getting back necessarily life essential. Sure, And so I
think you for a long time in Pittsburgh Water it
was guilty of this to some extent. There was an
intentional effort to keep rates as low as possible, again
kind of remaining out of sight, out of mind, but
missing you know, the point that this is really essential
(11:13):
work that you need to maintain the system, you need
to improve upon it, you need to find new technologies,
and there was a period of several decades where the
system really was stagnant. We weren't investing in the system.
So rates might have been flat, but we weren't, you know,
doing what we needed to do. And so a lot
of what we're catching up on now is decades of disinvestment. So,
(11:33):
you know, one of the reasons I'm happy to be
on the show is just to remind people, whether you're
Pittsburgh water customer or not, you know, being able to
turn on the tap and you know that water flows
away somewhere, it's really a miracle. There's a lot of
work that goes on behind the scenes, and to your point,
it's not free and you get what you pay for.
If you want high quality service, if you want infrastructure improvements,
(11:54):
the funding has to come from somewhere.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
All right, you just mentioned high quality. How many How
do you test the quality of the water. What's what
goes into that process.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Yeah, it's a great question, Johnny, So I mentioned we
have that water treatment plan along the Allegheny River. We
have a certified laboratory there that conducts routine testing of
that water coming in the treatment plant, as well as
the water leaving the treatment plant, making sure that we
have proper disinfection, making sure that we get the things
that you pull in from the river, the settlement, the silts,
(12:25):
things along those lines filtered out. And then we have
thousands of miles of pipes throughout our service territory that
we monitor on a proactive basis to make sure that
the water that's on individual streets and buildings is still
maintaining that high quality water, making sure there's again enough disinfection,
making sure that it is meeting all of the EPA
(12:46):
standards and exceeding them, which is our goal, and we've
been able to do so. There are thousands of tests
across our system that we're performing, again with little fanfare,
but you happen to see someone in a lab coat
opening up a fire hydrant, what they're doing is actually
testing that water quality on your block to make sure
that it's meeting our standards.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Wow, all right, what about green energy? What is Pittsburgh
Water doing to you know, conserve our energy.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Yeah, it's really fascinating. Before I joined, you know, a
water utility, I did not fully appreciate how much energy
it takes to operate a drinking water system in a
sewer system too. Alcacanne is also a huge power user.
If you think about how heavy a gallon of water is,
or you pick up a gallon of milk at the
grocery store. We are moving sixty five million gallons of
(13:39):
treated drinking water throughout the city of Pittsburgh, all of
the hills, all of that topography that we're managing. We're
doing that on a sixty five million gallons per day.
That takes a lot of pumps, which draw on a
lot of energy. For us, a lot of our pumps
are reaching the end of their life. We're replacing them
with more efficient pumps. But you know, we're one do
(14:00):
Cane Light's favorite customers. We pay a very large power bill,
and we partnered with the City of Pittsburgh and the
Sports and Exhibition Authority of Pittsburgh to come together and
do what's called a bulk power purchase agreement where we
are purchasing our agreement our energy from green sources. So,
you know, we know we had an opportunity to make
(14:21):
an impact and buy clean energy. Since we were such
a big user, we're sort of the biggest out of
that consortium, we could kind of throw our weight around
and make sure that the energy that we are purchasing
is coming from those renewable sources like solar and wind
and things like that.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
You mentioned topography. That has to be a huge challenge
when it comes to Pittsburgh, because not only do you
service millions of people, the roads and the topography has
got to be a nightmare for a utility such as yourself.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
It really is fascinating. I'd like to talk to some
of the original builders of the city why they chose
to plan neighborhoods on some of the steep hillsides. And
I live in Mount Washington and the city of Pittsburgh.
I'm victim of it. There's beautiful views up on these hills, right,
but the engineering that is required to make sure that
both water and sewer can be delivered to these homes
at different altitudes presents a constant challenge. Sort of an
(15:13):
example of that. You know, we're pushing water uphill and
there's a main break. Often it's very easy to lose
pressure because you know all of that topography. You need
to maintain a high level of pressure. A break in
the system or a power outage can cause you know,
a low pressure event or a no pressure event which
gives us fits and we want to make sure we
(15:34):
do everything we can to minimize. So, you know, those
are just some of the examples. On the water and
sewer side. We also manage storm water, so making sure
that the water coming off of some of those hillsides
can enter of what we call stormwater management system to
slow down some of that flow so we prevent sewer
backups in flooding. It's sort of a never ending challenge
(15:57):
in a city like Pittsburgh. We will manage to get
through it. We managed to somehow drive on some of
these goat paths that people call streets in all weather.
You know, I'm still I think I'm still learning fifteen
or so years into living here. So but it definitely
presents a challenge. You know, when I talk to other utilities,
and we were chatting before we started this, you know,
a Kansas city or in Iowa have no idea what
(16:19):
I'm talking about when we're talking about topography and the
lead service line angle of it is interesting too. If
you think about every home you see in the city
of Pittsburgh has a retaining wall. We need to make
sure that the water main in the street is serving
that home that is up at a higher elevation, and
when we're replacing that connection from the water main in
(16:39):
the street to the home, we often have to navigate
that retaining wall, concrete steps, things like that, you know,
with with little damage to the property itself. It's it's
really a challenge that other utilities. If you think about
a Baltimore style row home with you two feet and
you're on the sidewalk, which we would envy in most instances,
(16:59):
it presents a lot of challenges, but we're really lucky
to have a team that can work through them all.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
One thing that we take pride in with Pittsburgh is
that we we all live in our little community. But
yet you know, like nobody lives in Pittsburgh, we all
have our little spot. You have to deal with a
number of municipalities. Does that present a challenge for you
as well?
Speaker 2 (17:19):
You know, we have really good relationship with our municipal partners.
It's you know, a.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Well, you provide something that we all desperately need, right.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
That's all right. It's so you know, there there are
times when you know, the I am a government affairs
background person and I have to kind of put back
on that inner governmental hat and navigate some challenges. But
you know, what our hope really is is people see
the value in the product we're providing and we can
work together. The borough of Millvale, which is you know,
(17:48):
sort of small but really known for its brewery scene,
a very water intensive product, is actually within our water
service territory. So it's sort of that's an additional municipality
outside of Pittsburgh that we operate with, and we're on
the cusp of replacing all of the lead in that borough.
So we're really excited about that. You know, even though
they're not within the City of Pittsburgh boundaries, they're in
our service territory and we've been able to help them out.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
What about the stadiums that's within your your your your area?
So is that does that present a challenge because there's
a lot of cities that don't have those large stadiums
in downtown. But that's that's right in right downtown.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
That's right, Yeah, between P and C Park and Nakroshured Stadium.
I think I said that right still hintsfield, you know,
in the theaters in the arena for you know, different
special events in hockey. Obviously, we need to make sure
that we have adequate water and wastewater for you know,
those events. Sometimes they happen in the same thing day, Yeah, right,
(18:45):
and so we see these large fluctuations and spikes and usage.
We're talking about the NFL draft coming here, and you
know what what that might mean in terms of the
service that we need to provide when we have all
these hundreds of thousands of people visiting Pittsburgh and flushing
toilets and running taxg pain.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
So you've got the Convention Center, p and C Park,
Actressure all within just a small area that presents quite
a challenges, doesn't it.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
It really does in the hotels and everything there downtown.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
So tell me a little bit about your team. How
large of organization is Pittsburgh Water.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
So we're about four hundred employees as we stand now.
We've grown here in the last few years because we've recognized,
especially when it comes to repairing and maintenance out in
what we called out in the field, out in our
service territory, that we needed more bodies to keep up
with adequate maintenance, to respond to leaks and main breaks,
to make sure that we were dispatching crews in a
(19:37):
timely manner. About two thirds of our workforce are those
frontline employees making sure that we're operating and maintaining our
drinking water and sewer systems. And then we have a
robust customer service department, very focused on providing not just
responsive customer service, but helpful customer service so that when
our customers call with an issue can be resolved in
(19:59):
that one phone call. In in addition, they're really focused
on getting people assistance if they're having a hard time
keeping up with their water and sewer bills. And then
we've got engineering and construction. We have our water treatment
plant we call water production. We have leadership at the
treatment plan itself to make sure that we're treating the
water adequately. I mentioned our laboratory. We've got attorneys, we've
(20:22):
got you know, executives like myself. We're really lucky to
have an awesome team that is really focused on our
core mission, which is, you know, protecting public health and
in the environment through the services we provide.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
You talked to you just mentioned just about a minute
ago about if somebody is having trouble paying their bill,
what kind of what kind of framework do you have
to help individuals who are having difficulty paying that bill.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
We're really proud of what we have developed over the
last few years. We talked about the cost of our
service rising just because of how much activity that we
have going on right now and the catchup that we
have to do. But there was a realization that there
was a portion of our customer base that was having
a hard time keeping up to date, and so we
have a program of essentially a pro rated rate. If
(21:06):
you meet certain income limitations it's two hundred percent of
the federal poverty level. You get a different rate than
a normal customer. We have opportunities for one time cash
assistance for let's say there was a leak in the
household and the bill was extraordinarily high. If they meet
certain income requirements, they can get one time assistance there.
We also have a program I'm really proud of for properties,
(21:29):
again meeting certain income eligibility. If we believe that there's
a leak, we actually our meeters can provide data on
a minute by minute basis so that we can provide
you a text message if we think you had your
Pittsburgh party is running. I'm guilty of that. I got
the text message. I should have known better. But if
we have those instances at a home that may already
(21:50):
be having a hard time keeping up with their bill,
we will dispatch a plumber to that location and they
can install things like low flow fixtures, they can fix
that leak to help resolve, you know, those high bill
situations that could be avoided through curtailing some of the
water use. So, you know what, I would encourage anyone
listening if they know of someone that is having a
(22:11):
hard time keeping up with their bill or think they
may be eligible, to give us a call. Go to
pghtwoo dot com. You can see a listing of all
of our programs. We also have some specific programs for
lead service line replacement, so that if you were eventually
going to get to everyone, but if you want to
hire a plumber and do the work yourself, we will
reimburse you for at least a portion of that work.
(22:31):
So sort of no matter what you're interested in, I
would encourage people who are our customers to take a
look at those programs.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Stock will What is your background, Yeah, it's.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Sort of you know, for a utility leader, non traditional background.
I mentioned I was a you know, government affairs person.
I grew up out west in the Bay Area of California,
but my mom was a Pittsburgher, so I spent a
lot of time at my grandmother's house here in summers
in Pittsburgh, so I always had a relationship ship with Pittsburgh.
Spent before moving to Pittsburgh, spent my professional career in Washington,
(23:04):
d C. Working at local and federal government levels. The
last job I held there was with DC's Water and
Sewer utility, which is sort of a massive regional organization there.
And met my wife, who was a Pittsburgher in DC,
and you know, we were spending weekends here. Anyways, we said,
why are we still living in DC. Let's move to Pittsburgh.
(23:25):
It's livable, we have our family, better sports teams obviously,
you know, let's just go ahead and do it. And
it just happened to be that there was an opportunity
at Pittsburgh Water right as everything was kind of coming
to a head on the concern about lead and drinking
water and sort of a trial by fire experience that
(23:45):
I wouldn't trade for the world, Johnny, because I got
to see our organization really turn around the ship and
do right by our customers. So it's been really fantastic
experience coming in focused on communications PR and then just
learning the utility more broadly as deputy executive director and
now CEO for four and a half years, really blessed
with an awesome team that I want to shure everyone
(24:05):
listening is really in it for the right reasons, and
that's you know, protecting our drinking water and protecting them.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
So when you took over four and a half years ago,
what has been your biggest challenge?
Speaker 2 (24:15):
I would say, there's just no lack of things that
we would like to do, So it's you know, I
guess it all boils down to dollars and cents and
making sure that you know, our engineering team can identify
sort of a numerous an endless number of projects that
we could be pursuing, but we need to be mindful
of the dollars that we get that are either coming
(24:38):
through grants or loans from the federal and state government
or directly from our rate payers, that we're using those
dollars strategically and wisely to the most benefit. So prioritizing
those projects is something that's a constant challenge because we
feel that we could always be doing more, and there's
you know, in any aging system like we have. We
(25:00):
have core components that are one hundred and twenty years
old at our water treatment plant that we're getting around
to replacing, and we're really focused on those with those
ones that if they no longer function, We're having a
much different, less pleasant conversation on this show because we're
having a hard time providing drinking water to everyone, So
prioritizing that is I think the biggest challenge.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
In the last four and a half years. What are
you most proud of? What have you accomplished that you
say people should know about this?
Speaker 2 (25:28):
The assistance programs is a big one. I think balancing
that need to advance our projects and how expensive they are.
We're talking about investing over a billion dollars over the
next five years. In balancing that with the human impact.
I think my background in dealing with customers from the
public affairs and communications respect has been helpful because I
(25:49):
know these are hard working families that are doing everything
they can to keep up with their bill. We need
to be thinking about them as we make these investments
in our assistance programs. Has allowed us to address that.
There you know, if someone there was a time when
someone would come to me and say I'm having a
hard time keeping up with my bill and I didn't
really have a good place to direct them. And now
I can say, call our team. We will get you
(26:12):
the help that you need. And largely it's been very
successful in that program is growing, people are enrolling in it,
which means that we take it seriously. I'm not just
paying lip service to it. We want people to take
advantage of that help. And then the other part is
you know, doing you know, I can't, I can't take
credit for much of this, Johnny. This has been a
team effort. But really having our team professionalize and thinking
(26:34):
about as Pittsburgh Water, you know, is really just this
refreshed look that we are professional utility focused on public health,
that we're in it for the right reasons. We're not
a crusty old government agency that's trying to you know,
lurk behind the scenes and stay out of the spotlight.
We really want to be open and transparent with our
customers and again do right by them by you know,
(26:57):
sort of everything we're doing. And anecdotally, you know, I
don't always get positive feedback, but I get a lot
more positive feedback from people on the street including my family.
You know, over the last four or five years.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
You've simplified the name Pittsburgh Water, but you also simplified
the website and it's brilliant. P G H two. Oh
that's right. Who came up with that idea?
Speaker 2 (27:19):
You know, I wish I could take credit for that one.
You know, I should find that person and pat them
on the back. It is. It's a great use of
you know, what we all know is the abbreviation for
Pittsburgh and our core service, which is water.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
All right, what is the one thing you want people
to know about Pittsburgh Water.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
I want them to know that they can trust us
that the drinking water that we are pulling from the
Alligate Gainy River and treating and providing to them is
a very high quality. You know, that they should reconsider
if they are drinking bottled water, which is very expensive
and carries its negative environmental impacts in terms of the
plastic bottles, that they start to trust the tap water
(27:59):
coming in to their home. And I think that's you know,
we provide a ton of information on that website you
mentioned if people want to do research, you know, I
would love for people to be able to take that
expense off their shopping list. I think there's a false
perception that, you know, people cannot trust their tap water,
and everything that we have done to invest on their
behalf in our system is putting them in a place
where they should be able to trust the tap.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Website again pg H two o dot com, Will Pickering
of Pittsburgh Water and a CEO you Should Know will
thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
It's a lot of fun. Thanks.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
This has been the CEOs you Should Know podcast, showcasing
businesses that are driving our regional economy. Part of iHeartMedia's
commitment to the communities we serve. I'm Johnny Hartwell, thank
you so much for listener
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