The Bucks County Water and Sewer Authority (BCWSA) serves about 100,000 households in 31 towns in Bucks, Montgomery, and Chester Counties. The authority announced Wednesday, July 13, 2022, it is considering a formal offer of $1.1 billion from Aqua Pennsylvania to buy its sewer system, which makes up about three-quarters of BCWSA’s customer base. If the sale is approved, the remaining BCWSA entity would serve only drinking water customers.
The privatization would generate a huge windfall for Bucks County government at the expense of 75,000 sewer customers who would pay higher rates under private owners.
The board got an earful on Wednesday as about 30 spectators crowded the BCWSA’s tiny meeting room in Doylestown Township to denounce the board’s move, which was not advertised in advance and appeared on a hastily amended agenda (see photo). “It’s a disgrace what’s happening here,” said Len Hughes Jr., a union shop steward with the AFSCME local that represents the authority’s supervisors.
Under Aqua’s proposal, current sewer rates would be frozen for a year. But in the coming years, rates would eventually increase to match Aqua’s rates, which are now about $88 compared with BCWSA’s average monthly rate of $48.
Though BCWSA’s fees are now much lower than those charged by Aqua, a projection conducted for the authority projected that its rates under continued public ownership would increase at a quicker pace than Aqua’s in the next 10 years to pay for anticipated upgrades to its aging sewer mains and treatment plants to resolve sewage overflow issues, said Jones. In about a decade, the $40 difference in bills between BCWSA and Aqua would shrink to about $20, he said.
Still, by that math, about 10 years from now customers would be paying $20 more a month under Aqua compared with BCWSA.
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From the ordinance:
"No police officer or other person acting under color of law on behalf of Radnor Township or using resources or assets belonging to Radnor Township shall conduct any investigation, make any arrest, file any criminal charges, cooperate with any other officer, agent, agency, or department, or participate in any prosecution in which a person is accused of facilitating, providing, or receiving abortion services with the consent of the pregnant person during the first twenty four weeks of any pregnancy, or when the life or health of the pregnant person is endangered by continuation of the pregnancy."