BRYN MAWR, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Speaking before an audience at the National Association of Regulatory
Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Winter Committee Meeting today in
Washington, DC, Aqua Pennsylvania, Inc. Senior Project Engineer Frank
Grablutz said the company's robust capital program is making a
measurable difference where it counts: providing customers with
increased reliability and better water quality.
Grablutz said that the company has perfected its approach to pipe
replacement by using technology, primarily a new asset information
management system (AIMS), coupled with a strategic and practical
approach to the "real world" activities that sometimes interfere with
the best made plans.
"Our AIMS software has allowed us to compile data in a central location
so we can better manage our 5,500-mile pipe inventory," said Grablutz.
"We know how much of what type of pipe we have, where it's located and
its performance history data. This has enabled us to develop a renewal
strategy that considers all of these factors."
Aqua America, Inc. (NYSE: WTR) Chairman and CEO Nicholas DeBenedictis
said that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has been "leading the way,"
in demonstrating the key role private, investor-owned water and
wastewater utilities can play in fixing the deteriorating water and
wastewater infrastructure. "Pennsylvania has been a leader in addressing
the necessary replacement of aging water mains in particular through its
Distribution System Improvement Charge (DSIC). The DSIC can be credited
with enabling companies like Aqua Pennsylvania to make necessary main
replacements of pipe, much of which is undersized, leaking, rusty pipe
composed of dated material like unlined cast iron and cement. Our
replacement program has resulted in a reduction in lost water, fewer
service interruptions, and minimized the amount of traditional rate
requests," said DeBenedictis.
Since 1997, the first full year of the DSIC through 2011, Aqua
Pennsylvania has increased the investment in its pipe
renewal/replacement program from $9.5 million to $120.7 million,
replacing a total of 913 miles of main for an average of just more than
one percent annually. Eighty percent of Aqua Pennsylvania's distribution
system is located in southeastern Pennsylvania where prior to the DSIC,
ductile iron pipe—the material of choice for this area of the
country—represented just 23 percent of the distribution system, with the
majority composed of unlined cast iron pipe. At the end of 2011, the
company had doubled its ductile pipe in this area to 46 percent and
reduced its cast iron inventory from 57 percent to 41 percent. Further,
the pipe renewal program helped the company reduce the number of leaks
in southeastern Pennsylvania from nearly 1,000 per year in 2000 to less
than 600 in 2011.
DeBenedictis said, "Since Pennsylvania's adoption of the DSIC, Illinois,
Ohio, New York and Indiana have followed suit with similar programs that
have enabled private water companies in to accelerate their efforts to
address the much-needed replacement of aging and underperforming water
distribution in those states.
"The results we are achieving demonstrate that an ounce of prevention is
worth a pound of cure. Customers are the ultimate beneficiaries of this
work because it has enhanced our reliability and improved water quality,
particularly where the iron buildup on the interior of the unlined cast
iron pipe has caused discolored water."
Aqua America is a publicly traded water and wastewater utility holding
company with operating subsidiaries serving approximately three million
people in Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Illinois, Texas, New
Jersey, New York, Florida, Indiana, Virginia, Maine, Missouri, South
Carolina and Georgia. Aqua America is listed on the New York Stock
Exchange under the ticker symbol WTR.
WTRG
Aqua America, Inc.
Gretchen Toner
Manager, Strategic
Communications
610-645-1175
gmtoner@aquaamerica.com
or
Brian
Dingerdissen
Director, Investor Relations
610-645-1191
bjdingerdissen@aquaamerica.com
Source: Aqua America, Inc.
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