As a publicly owned and operated water utility, Pittsburgh Water works for you. As we enter 2025, we invite our community to revisit some of the most notable 2024 achievements we made on behalf of our customers.
Last year was an exceptional year for us, one where we continued to reach new heights in delivering safe, high-quality drinking water to our communities. From keeping lead levels at historic lows to securing responsible investments in our infrastructure and placing an increased focus on expanding assistance programs for vulnerable neighbors, all of what we accomplished in 2024 was in service to you, our neighbors and customers.
To highlight some of our proudest achievements from 2024, we asked our CEO, Will Pickering, to talk about last year's progress in a few key areas critical to our goals of protecting public health and the environment.
Pittsburgh Water 2024 Accomplishments
Some of the major milestones discussed in this video recap (viewable here and on our YouTube page @ PittsburghWater) include:
Lead service line replacements. We’re years ahead of the national average and on track to replace all residential lead service lines by 2027. At the end of 2024, we reached a significant milestone, replacing our 12,000th lead service line.
Water Reliability Plan (WRP) progress. We laid the foundation for the new Highland Reservoir Pump Station, one of several projects in the Plan. When completed, this new building – our first in two decades – will reduce the likelihood of service disruptions caused by power outages or water main breaks.
Leveraging innovative financing. Since 2018, we’ve secured nearly $100 million dollars in grants and more than $750 million dollars in low-interest loans. These funding sources help reduce the financial burden on ratepayers while allowing us to fund our critical infrastructure improvement projects, like lead service line replacements and the WRP.
In the coming weeks, we’ll release our full 2024 Year in Review. This annual report shows the progress we’re making transforming
Pittsburgh’s water system, improving performance and service reliability, and protecting public health and our environment.
Meant to inform and build confidence, the report goes into specific details regarding important 2024 milestones, our projects and programs, and the essential services we provide for the health and well-being of you — our customers. Please be on the lookout for an announcement when the full report is available.
In the meantime, you're invited to visit our Events & Meetings webpage for a full list of upcoming opportunities to engage with us online or in person.
For instance, we're again holding a series of State of Pittsburgh Water meetings, which give an update on the current state of our organization.
The public is also always invited to our monthly Board of Directors meetings. Please see this month's Team PGH2O article for more information.
As a public utility, every dollar we receive is put back into our water system, meaning we never generate a profit or pay shareholders. We work for you, and we take our responsibility to our community seriously.
As always, if you need to speak with a member of the Pittsburgh Water team, please give us a call at 412-255-2423 or visit www.pgh2o.com.