Residents Fight To Halt Aqua Takeover Of Willistown Sewer Plant

WILLISTOWN, PA— Township residents are forging ahead to halt the sale of the township sewer plant to Aqua Pennsylvania for $17.5 million.

Signs saying “Clean Up Sewer Mess” have been placed on lawns throughout the 18.2 square-mile township.

While the case is tied up in court, residents are working behind the scenes to prevent the sale from going through.

Caroline Bradley, a Willistown resident, said residents plan to attend a meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 12, at the General Wayne Elementary School, 20 Devon Road, Malvern, to ask the supervisors to stop the sale.

Bradley said Friday that the residents are hopeful the sale will fall through, noting that a majority of the supervisors support the sale.

Supervisor Molly Perrin said in a press release that she is committed to stopping the sale of the system until all legal avenues have been exhausted. Township supervisors, William R. Shoemaker and Robert T. Lang, support the sale.

“The sewer rate payers build the system that is now on the selling block,” Perrin said. “They stand to be hurt the most by this sale. My goal is to protect them.

Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate and a Willistown Township resident petitioned the Commonwealth Court to overturn the Public Utilities Commission’s approval of Aqua Pennsylvania purchasing the township plant.

The current average sewer bill of a Willistown resident is $63.30 per month.

A 2016 Pennsylvania law encourages municipalities to sell sewer plants.

Aqua is based in Bryn Mawr and has 20,000 wastewater connections and 11 treatment plants in Pennsylvania.

East Whiteland Township sold its sewer plan in August to Aqua for $55M. Bucks County recently withdrew plans to sell its sewer system to Aqua.