• Company now delivers water service in 36 PA counties
HERSHEY, PA, Feb. 3, 2010 -- Pennsylvania American Water, a wholly owned subsidiary of American Water, announced today that it has acquired the water system assets of Nittany Water Company in north-central Pennsylvania. The purchase price of the newly acquired system, which serves nearly 1,500 people in Centre and Clinton counties, is approximately $520,000.
The transaction provides Pennsylvania American Water with its first operation in Clinton County, expanding the company's footprint to 36 counties across the state.
With this acquisition, Pennsylvania American Water takes over a troubled water system with a history of water outages, frequent main breaks and service reliability issues due to aging infrastructure. According to Pennsylvania American Water President Kathy L. Pape, the acquisition provides a long-term solution for customers of the water system, which has been under a Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) consent order since July 2008 over service reliability issues.
"This transaction will mean the lifting of DEP's consent order, because we are committing the technical expertise and resources needed to address the service reliability problems that these customers have experienced for years," said Pape. "Also, the acquisition serves as further evidence of meaningful water system regionalization, since it represents our eighth acquisition in the Centre County-Clearfield County area in the past 20 years."
Over the next few years, Pennsylvania American Water plans to make needed investments to replace and rehabilitate the aging pipe, which has caused numerous main breaks and water outages for the system's customers in portions of Walker Township, Centre County, and portions of Porter Township, Clinton County.
This purchase follows Pennsylvania American Water's 2009 acquisitions of four municipal water systems in north-central and western Pennsylvania. Last October, the company acquired the water system assets of the Wallaceton Municipal Authority in Clearfield County; Boggs Township Municipal Authority, Centre County; Amwell Township Water Authority, Washington County; and Saxonburg Area Authority in Butler County.
Pennsylvania American Water is the largest investor-owned water utility in the state, providing high-quality and reliable water and/or wastewater services to more than 2 million people. Founded in 1886, American Water is the largest investor-owned U.S. water and wastewater utility company. With headquarters in Voorhees, N.J., the company employs more than 7,000 dedicated professionals who provide drinking water, wastewater and other related services to approximately 15 million people in 32 states and Ontario, Canada. More information can be found by visiting www.amwater.com.
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