Pennsylvania American Water acquisition of Audubon Water finalized

Following the merger, Pennsylvania American Water shut off Audubon’s three contaminated wells last month. The well closures followed weeks of infrastructure work to route water from American’s system in Norristown — which feeds from the Schuylkill River — to Lower Providence Township.

Audubon’s former 10,000 customers, or, about 2,900 households and businesses, are now drinking water that meets state and federal standards for PFAS.

“Our company’s top priority is to deliver clean, safe and reliable water to our customers,” said Justin Brame, senior manager of operations, in a statement. “Once we finalized the acquisition on May 28, we quickly mobilized all available resources to evaluate the situation and began addressing the issues without delay.”

American Water also repaired five major leaks, which caused the system to lose about 50,000 gallons of water daily, which is comparable to the amount of water that can fill two in-ground backyard swimming pools.

During an interview with WHYY News, Brame said water main leaks aren’t uncommon, but the situation in Lower Providence Township that led to water conservation notices was unusual. Twenty-five percent of Audubon’s water supply was lost in just one leak, he said.

“It’s a little frustrating when you see a system run like that, where if [Audubon] would have fixed the leaks, the customers wouldn’t have been impacted nearly as much,” Brame said. “We wanted to … address leaks and fix them, so that our customers could live a normal life … they could wash their cars … they could water the grass —- things that they couldn’t do on a normal basis because of the lack of addressing routine water company work.”

Audubon Water Company could not be reached for comment.

Residents will be currently charged the same rate they paid while customers of Audubon. The average household can expect to pay between $42 and $55 a month, depending on water usage. Pennsylvania American Water customers who live in other service areas currently pay on average between $70 and $100 a month.

The company could potentially propose to raise rates in Lower Providence Township in the future. Any rate increase must be approved by the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission.

Pennsylvania American Water said it plans to invest $21.5 million over the next five years to replace water mains, upgrade treatment and modernize control systems.

The company is replacing customers’ meters with new technology that can be read remotely, and a number of unreliable fire hydrants have also been replaced.

“I certainly have a great deal of more confidence in the Audubon system now that Pennsylvania American Water has taken over,” said James Lentz, fire chief for the Lower Providence Fire Company. “I think the future looks good.”

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