Paramount to the safe delivery of your drinking water are the heroes in our Operations department. Each day, this group of dedicated men and women perform necessary tasks that are essential for maintaining water quality and service reliability.
At our Water Treatment Plant and in the field, they monitor water as it moves through the treatment process, perform thousands of water quality tests each month, inspect, maintain, and make repairs to our distribution system, and much more — all essential for providing Pittsburgh residents and businesses with the highest-quality water.
To ensure that proper flow and pressure are available in our distribution system, and to maintain water quality, Operations flushed nearly 2,400 fire hydrants and repaired or replaced nearly 400 hydrants in 2023. To help limit service interruptions and increase reliability, Operations exercised nearly 5,500 water valves across our service area.
Our sewers are essential in moving sewage from homes and businesses to the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) wastewater treatment plant along the Ohio River. To extend the useful life of those sewers and identify the pipes most in need of repair, our Operations team inspected just over 31 miles of sewer pipe in 2023.