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Updated 19 hours ago
Frequent changes in top officials and a lack of long-range improvement plans are the biggest problems at the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, Pittsburgh's controller said Thursday.
Controller Michael Lamb released findings of a draft performance audit that scrutinized PWSA operations from 2014 to 2016 and noted 53 problems ranging from revolving-door management to poor customer service and dysfunctional billing.
Lamb was joined by Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, who announced the beginning of an audit requested by Mayor Bill Peduto's administration. DePasquale said his team would examine PWSA governance, board oversight and staffing.
The authority, which was working to repair a major water leak Thursday morning, could not immediately be reached for comment.
“It seemed like everywhere we turned at PWSA, there was a problem,” Lamb said. “Since we started this audit, we went through four different directors down there. When you don't have consistent, competent leadership, you have a problem.”
Lamb noted that the authority hired Boston-based Veolia North American as manager to improve its performance and included incentive clauses in its contract that paid the company millions of dollars. The management contract ended in 2015.
PWSA has filed a lawsuit against Veolia seeking up to $12 million in damages, claiming it “grossly mismanaged PWSA's operations.”
Lamb said Veolia eliminated three full-time jobs at a secondary treatment plant at the Highland Park No. 1 reservoir that was at the center of last week's boil water order for 100,000 city residents caused by low chlorine readings.
“When those alarms go off that chlorine is low, it has to be responded to,” Lamb said.
Auditors also cited PWSA for billing errors that wrongly charged some customers thousands of dollars and caused delays in billing lasting as long as a year.
Lamb said customers still are experiencing long telephone waits because of poor customer service, a longtime criticism at the authority.
Bob Bauder is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 412-765-2312 or bbauder@tribweb.com.
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