HERSHEY, Pa., Oct. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania American Water, a wholly owned subsidiary of American Water (NYSE: AWK), announced today that it has acquired the Saxonburg Area Authority's water system in Butler County, western Pennsylvania. The purchase price of the newly acquired system, which serves a total of nearly 3,600 people, is approximately $6 million.
This latest transaction comes on the heels of Pennsylvania American Water's acquisition of three municipal water systems in north-central and western Pennsylvania, serving a total of nearly 600 people. On October 1, the company announced the purchase of water system assets from the Wallaceton Municipal Authority, Clearfield County; Boggs Township Municipal Authority, Centre County; and Amwell Township Water Authority, Washington County.
"This acquisition is another example of what can be accomplished through water system regionalization across the Commonwealth," said Pennsylvania American Water President Kathy L. Pape. "We are able to bring technical expertise and economies of scale to provide long-term solutions to communities that are facing costly issues with their water infrastructure."
The newly acquired water system serves Saxonburg Borough and portions of Jefferson and Clinton townships. With a history of raw water main breaks due to aging infrastructure, the system faced service reliability problems and high replacement costs.
"The Saxonburg acquisition will help address the problems facing this aging water system, while maintaining reasonable water rates for customers," said Pape. "As part of this transaction, Pennsylvania American Water will be making significant capital investments to ensure water quality, long-term service reliability and fire protection for these new customers."
Pennsylvania American Water plans to install nearly 42,500 feet of new pipe, as well as invest in additional operational upgrades and safety-related infrastructure over the next several years. The new pipe will connect the Saxonburg system to Pennsylvania American Water's Butler District, which serves approximately 16,700 customers in the City of Butler; Borough of East Butler, Connoquenessing Borough, and portions of Butler, Center, Connoquenessing, Forward, Franklin, Oakland, Penn and Summit Townships.
Pennsylvania American Water, a wholly-owned subsidiary of 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.
This release contains forward looking statements, including, among others, our plan to continue our long-term strategy of capital investment in our systems. There are important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements including: general economic business conditions, unfavorable weather conditions, changes in regulations or regulatory treatment and availability and the cost of capital. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement.
SOURCE Pennsylvania American Water
