Attempts to Seize the Water System

The City of Chester has never contributed any money into the operations of the CWA.³ Sometime in 2016 or early 2017 Aqua and the DCED began discussing the sale of the CWA to Aqua. Incredibly, it appears that those plans were discussed by the DCED and Aqua in secret and did not involve anyone from the City of Chester or the CWA ⁴. In 2017, Aqua America made a written offer to the CWA to purchase its assets, which the CWA rejected, in part, because its analysis showed that ratepayers would have seen significant rate increases over time by Aqua.⁵ Unhappy with the CWA’s rejection of Aqua’s offer, attempts to simply seize the CWA and force the deal began, with more secret meetings taking place with Aqua and the City of Chester, lawsuits and political pressure. It is worth noting that once these plans to seize and sell the CWA became known, more than 30 townships and boroughs, 10 state senators and state representatives, and at least 10 local interested organizations have written letters opposing any sale of the CWA.⁶ To date it does not appear that the DCED has provided a response to any of these letters of support.