West View Water Authority receives $6.6 million through PENNVEST Grant

Last week Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced the investment of $117 million for 25 water projects across the Commonwealth through the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PENNVEST). West View Water Authority received a $6,600,000 grant to replace 500 lead services and associated infrastructure, totaling more than 20,000 feet of copper piping.

“Safe, clean and reliable drinking water is the goal of any potable water utility, and the men and women of West View Water Authority take that goal very seriously,” Robert Christian, West View Water Authority’s Executive Director said. “This award will allow us to continue on our mission and serve our rate payers with highest level of environmental and fiduciary responsibility.”

The funding from the PENNVEST grant will be used to replace approximately 15% of the lead service lines, even though the service lines are a small proportion of the overall services lines it’s a crucial step towards improving the health and safety of our water.

Lead service lines are the most significant source of lead in water, and full replacement of the pipes are vital to keeping our water lead free. The funding received from the PENNVEST grant will provide added health benefits and infrastructure improvements, as well as providing family-sustaining jobs to those in Western Pennsylvania through the construction process.

“We would like to thank the Governor’s Office, the PENNVEST Board of Directors, and our legislative delegation for their support and award for this grant,” said Dennis Watson, West View Water Authority’s Board Chairman. “This is a tremendous boost for our goal of total lead service line replacement”.

West View Water Authority supplies water to 32 municipalities and over 200,000 people in portions of Allegheny, Beaver and Butler counties of Pennsylvania. Funding for this project will reduce the possibility of lead-contaminated water and provide healthier water quality to those in Western Pennsylvania. The Authority will continue to identify additional streams of funding similar to the grant from PENNVEST to focus on projects which keep our customer’s water safe and healthy.

For more information on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently finalized update to the Lead and Copper Rule here.