Aqua America Inc.’s Pennsylvania subsidiary, Aqua Pennsylvania Wastewater, is set to acquire the Delaware County Regional Water Quality Control Authority’s wastewater assets for $276.5 million. The pending transaction is subject to Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission approval.
DELCORA serves a population of approximately 500,000 people in 42 municipalities in Southeast Pennsylvania. Aqua estimates that this represents the equivalent of 165,000 retail customers. The customer base consists of retail, commercial, and industrial customers and large wholesale agreements with municipal authorities. Its assets include 168 miles of combined and separate sewer mains, 14 miles of large-diameter force mains, and a 50-million gallon-per-day wastewater treatment plant that serves the western part of its service territory. Wastewater from the eastern part of the territory is treated by Philadelphia Water Department.
Prior to the agreement, DELCORA faced substantial capital investment costs to comply with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency mandates to resolve combined sewer overflow problems. The cost of these projects, and other capital investments, is estimated to be approximately $1.2 billion through 2041.
Following closing, Aqua will hire all 136 current DELCORA employees, honor all DELCORA union contracts, and offer expanded professional opportunities in water and wastewater to these employees.
In 2018, Aqua America completed municipal acquisitions in the Village of Manteno, Illinois; Limerick Township, Pennsylvania; the Village of Peotone, Illinois; East Bradford Township, Pennsylvania; and the Tredyffrin Township Municipal Authority’s Valley Creek Trunk Sewer System in Pennsylvania. In addition to DELCORA, Aqua America currently has seven pending water and wastewater acquisitions under agreement, which represent close to 23,000 customer connections and are expected to close in 2019 or 2020.
In October 2018, Aqua America also announced an agreement to acquire Pittsburgh-based natural gas company Peoples for $4.275 billion. This transaction, which is expected to close in 2019, will add 740,000 customers in Western Pennsylvania, Kentucky and West Virginia, and enable Aqua to expand its ongoing efforts to improve infrastructure reliability, quality of life and economic prosperity in these regions.
Aqua America is the second-largest publicly traded water utility based in the U.S., and serves more than 3 million people in Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Illinois, Texas, New Jersey, Indiana and Virginia. Aqua America is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol WTR. Visit AquaAmerica.com for more information.
