Most people don’t often think about their drinking water supply. And frankly, that’s the way it should be. You turn on your tap, start your shower, and your high-quality drinking water is there. But making that happen today and for future generations takes real work and requires ongoing investment.

You may have heard from our team at Aqua Pennsylvania at some point this year about construction on your street, new water main installation, or larger projects like improvements locally at our Crum Creek Water Treatment Plant in Delaware County or our Shenango Water Treatment Plant in Mercer County in Western Pennsylvania. Maybe you’ve wondered: Why all this work? Why now? Where is my money going?

Here’s the truth: Our crews are in your communities working hard to ensure your drinking water service is reliable so that you don’t have to think about it. We replace aging water pipes, upgrade our lab testing and treatment equipment, and modernize our systems that reliably deliver your service. Most of it is underground, out of sight, and easy to forget — until something goes wrong.

That’s why we invest. That’s why we are often making upgrades. That’s why we don’t wait. We think about your water supply so you don’t have to.

Sometimes our customers ask us about the cost of their service and whether our work is necessary. The answer is yes — this work protects your health, your home, and your businesses. It’s not just maintenance — it’s critical to the quality of your daily life.

Don’t just take our word for it. The American Society of Civil Engineers, a group of respected experts dedicated to protecting and restoring the natural environment, recently gave our nation’s drinking water systems a C- and wastewater systems a D+ in its most recent report card. The report card also called for sustained, continued investment to help ensure safe, reliable water and wastewater infrastructure for generations to come.  

We know investment is desperately needed, which is why we have more than $380 million planned in capital investments throughout 2025 in our communities. We don’t throw around big investment numbers to impress anyone. We invest because that’s what it takes to deliver safe and reliable services. Those dollars go right back into serving our customers.

In Delaware County, we are making major upgrades at our Crum Creek Water Treatment Plant as part of a $14.3 million construction project. We’ve recently placed a new concrete pretreatment sedimentation basin into service. This upgrade ensures that naturally occurring water sources are properly treated before reaching your tap, with our goal of meeting all state and federal regulations. While you may not notice that work when you turn on your tap, that’s the point – you shouldn’t have to worry.

Another example of how we’re strengthening infrastructure is our ongoing work to remove PFAS, the “forever chemical”, and replace lead service lines across the state. We’ve installed our seventh PFAS treatment facility at our Chalfont well station in Bucks County. And we’ve secured more than $46 million in state-approved grant and low-interest loan funding to tackle both issues head-on — mitigating the impact on your rates through these alternative funding sources.

This funding includes more than $15 million for 6 PFAS treatment projects across Bucks, Chester, and Luzerne Counties, benefiting over 5,800 customers, along with an additional $28.9 million to fund six more PFAS treatment projects at 15 community well sites across Chester, Montgomery, Lackawanna, and Luzerne Counties.

Our ongoing work to replace customer-owned lead service lines across the state also continues to make an impact. As required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, we are identifying and removing customer-owned lead lines at no direct cost to our customers. In 2024, we replaced over 1,000 lead service lines, and we’ve already replaced over 700 in 2025. Additionally, we secured $1.3 million in state-approved grant funding to replace over 200 lead and galvanized service lines in Bristol Borough and Bristol Township, Bucks County. With these efforts, we are not only meeting federal guidelines but implementing solutions ahead of schedule, ensuring safer drinking water for our communities.

It takes months of planning and coordination from our team of scientists, engineers, construction managers, and planners to execute these projects — and we do all of this because we know our communities need and deserve it.

Drinking water service is a different type of utility as it is the only one we ingest. You can’t live without it. You can’t cook, clean, or take care of your kids without it. We take that seriously.

So, the next time you see our crews in your neighborhood or get a notice about a main replacement project on your street, know this — it’s not just busywork. It’s building a stronger, safer system for your family. We invite you to learn more about how we protect your water every day.

Learn more at Aqua.