Oct. 17, 2018
HARRISBURG—Legislation introduced by Rep. Alex Charlton (R-Delaware) to allow water and wastewater utilities to replace lateral pipelines leading to homes when there is a public health issue has passed the Senate.
“Our nation’s infrastructure is crumbling, and that includes our critical water and wastewater structures.” Charlton said. “The American Society for Civil Engineers recently gave a grade of D and D- for Pennsylvania’s water and wastewater systems. That is simply unacceptable.”
In an effort to curb this problem, a bipartisan group of legislators wrote language into this year’s Fiscal Code allowing municipal authorities and municipal governments to replace homeowner’s water and sewer laterals when there is a public health concern such as lead.
“Unfortunately, left out of that was Pennsylvania’s regulated water and wastewater utilities that serve much of my district,” Charlton said.
To correct this, Charlton introduced
House Bill 2075 to allow regulated water and wastewater utilities to replace water laterals in communities that still have lead distribution pipes coming into their homes and sewer laterals that pose environmental hazards.
“This will allow these utilities to proactively be part of the solution to a growing public health issue,” Charlton said. “Lead service lines are of particular concern as the lead can find its way back into the service main putting at risk the entire water supply to lead contamination.”
The bill now moves to Gov. Tom Wolf for his signature.
Representative Alex Charlton
165th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: David Foster
267.207.0207
dfoster@pahousegop.com
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