17837_Authority_Oct

48 The Authority | October 2024 If Tony Bellitto, 63, had it his way, his customers living in the heart of Montgomery County wouldn’t know his name. However, recent instances of giant water companies aggressively trying to wrest control of public companies have thrust the executive director of Lansdale-based North Penn Water Authority into the public eye. Bellito’s testimony before the Pennsylvania legislature went viral in December 2023. More than five million people witnessed him calling water privatization a “scam.” The growth of investor-owned water companies has led to skyrocketing water bills. The Bronx native said it’s by design. “The process of that takeover will result in personal financial gain for those top executives that run those companies, and that’s their incentive,” he said. “They’re gonna put more money in their pocket and they’re not concerned about all the money that’s going to come out of the pocket of all those customers.” Approximately 90% of Americans get their drinking water from S cams , B ig B ills and B argains : W hy P a .’ s P ublic W ater O fficials W on ’ t S top T alking Facing the rising prospect of privatization, the remaining public water officials in Philadelphia’s suburbs take pride in holding out and keeping water bills low. By Kenny Cooper/WHYY News public systems like NPWA. But in Pennsylvania, the tide is changing. In 2016, Pennsylvania lawmakers passed Act 12, creating a process to determine the value of a public water system, including its assets, expected revenue and potential repair costs. Private water companies have used the process to capture the attention of municipalities, dangling massive short- term acquisition prices. Ratepayers end up covering those costs in the long run through high water bills. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission approved nearly two dozen acquisitions since the law’s passage, turning Bellitto into somewhat of an icon in Philadelphia’s suburbs. Bellitto and a few others believe the solution to municipal water woes is consolidating together rather than handing over the reins to investors. Is public consolidation the counter to Pa. water privatization frenzy? NPWA is a product of municipal consolidation. Bellitto refers to this as “regionalization.” “What makes us unique is that we are a regional entity,” he said. “We have a combination of 10 municipalities that are part of our owners, that’s seven townships and three boroughs.” NPWA provides drinking water to 10 additional municipalities. Prior to the authority’s creation in 1965, each borough or township generally relied on its own small water systems. Predicting the growth of the suburbs, Lansdale and Souderton moved to combine their infrastructure. Neighboring localities saw the benefit and followed suit. “One of the biggest obstacles, which has been overcome, is the realization in the 70s and 80s that a limited groundwater system would not be sustainable for the future,” Bellitto said. Today, NPWA employs 52 full-time staff members, serving approximately 36,000 customers. The authority controls about 600 miles of water main. Both NPWA and the North Wales Water Authority rely on Lake Galena and the Forest Park Water Treatment Plant located in Chalfont for most of their supply. Bellitto said the bar for excellence is higher than ever before. With constantly changing water quality