Aqua PA Still Urges Water Saving During Ida Damage Assesement

BRYN MAWR, PA — Water customers in the Philadelphia region are still urged to curb their water usage as Aqua Pennsylvania addresses system damage from Hurricane Ida.

The water company is strongly encouraging customers in the region to save water until further notice.

Aqua said it is working to restore normal operations at its largest water treatment plant, which was heavily damaged by floods last week.

Customers should turn off the water when brushing teeth and shaving, take shorter showers, only run washers and dishwashers with full loads, and turn off automatic sprinklers.

Customers can also sign up for Aqua’s WaterSmart alerts. The alerts are an automated service designed for quick, reliable communication about water quality and service in case of disruption. Aqua’s WaterSmart alerts are delivered by phone, text or email. Customers can enroll online here.

Aqua had to shut down its Pickering West water treatment plant in Phoenixville last week due to catastrophic damage caused by historic flooding and loss of power. The utility says it will take some time for full recovery to take place and asks customers to take all possible measures to curtail water use until further notice.

"We’ve adjusted the water distribution throughout our four-county system to compensate for the loss of up to 40 percent of our entire drinking water supply from the plant we had to shut down due to significant storm damage," said Aqua Pennsylvania President Marc Lucca. "Because our Pickering West plant provided such a large amount of drinking water to our southeastern Pennsylvania service area, we are truly experiencing a regional problem in Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties. That means we need all Aqua customers in southeastern Pennsylvania to use less water until we can make up the water supply that we lost."

Aqua’s toll-free customer service number is now available, but the utility’s phone vendor is still experiencing technical issues caused by storm damage.