Clean water in Pittsburgh comes to forefront ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris' visit
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Vice President Kamala Harris is coming to Pittsburgh next week to talk about what's being done to deliver clean water to the country.
Leaders in Pittsburgh are continuing to work on limiting dangerous chemicals polluting our water supplies.
In 2022, Harris visited Pittsburgh to spread awareness of the need to get rid of lead water lines.
"We do have an aging system," said Mora McLaughlin, construction communication project manager for Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority. "Pittsburgh is an old city and our infrastructure is very important to ensuring quality of life and a thriving community, so anything we can do and any investment we can make to make sure our water is safe and healthy and reliable is really awesome to be a part of."
Our drinking water is sourced from the Allegheny River. Every day, officials test for 100 different chemical and microbial strains throughout the treatment process.
"We do get our source water for our treated drinking water from the Allegheny River, which is considered to be a really high-quality source of drinking water, so we are very lucky in this region to have access to the Allegheny," McLaughlin said.
The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority's treatment plant works around the clock to meet state and federal water quality standards.
"We have a fully-staffed water treatment plant through of chemists and other water quality experts who are taking hundreds, if not thousands, of tests per day," McLaughlin said.
Lead in drinking water is an issue for many Pittsburgh residents. The PSWA tries to keep lead levels low and remove the risk permanently by replacing lead service lines.
The PSWA also offers free lead test kits to test your water at home to all residential water customers. If any lead is found, they will send lead filter pitchers with specific cartridges to protect drinking water.
McLaughlin said it also tests for PFAS, making sure to filter out anything that could be harmful. However, upgrading equipment is the highest priority.
"Something we've been working on for a number of years is our water reliability plan. This is a multi-million dollar, around a $470 million initiative taking place over five years to upgrade some of the largest pieces of our systems," McLaughlin said.
The PWSA also received $32 million to keep replacing those lead water lines.