The following letter was written by the Chester Water Authority Board of Directors, urging the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to halt the sale of CWA to Aqua and act in providing water affordability to all of the residents of PA, including minority and low-income communities.
Here is a quote from the letter, written by CWA’s Board Chair Cynthia Leitzell:
‘’There are 70,675 households in Chester and Delaware counties that currently receive their water from CWA. Service area census data shows that of the total customer base, 70.5% are White households and 17.83% are Black households. An analysis of the households that will not be able to afford Aqua’s water rate under the 2.5% standard identified above shows that 56.65% of those households are White and 35.21% are Black. Therefore, even though Blacks make up only 17.83% of the current CWA customer base, they will make up twice as many (35.21%) of the customers who will not be able to afford water under Aqua’s increased rates.”
