Delivering a World Class Lead Replacement Programme: Will Pickering, CEO at Pittsburgh Water

2025-03-18 Episode 22-delivering-a-world-class-lead-replacement-programme-will-pickering-ceo-at-pittsburgh-water
[00:00:00] Piers Clark: Welcome to the Exec Exchange, 15-minute podcast in which a leader from the water sector shares a story to inspire, educate, and inform other water sector leaders from across the globe. My name is Piers Clark and today my guest is Will Pickering, Chief Executive at Pittsburgh Water. We're going to be talking about lead replacement and the issues of lead in water. Will, wonderful to have you with us today.
[00:00:23] Will Pickering: Great to be with you.
[00:00:24] Piers Clark: Now let's go back in time. Tell me, what did you study at university? And what did you do when you came out of university?
[00:00:30] Will Pickering: I was a political science major. Went to school on the west coast in the Bay Area of California; Santa Clara University. And I think I thought I wanted to be an attorney. I watched a lot of Law Order as a kid. But then met some attorneys and realized that wasn't what I was interested in. I fell into government, really fascinated with public policy, and my first few jobs were in local government and found my way into wastewater and water. And here I sit today leading a utility here in Pennsylvania.
[00:00:57] Piers Clark: Tell me, when did you join Pittsburgh Water and did you come into the chief exec role straight away?
[00:01:02] Will Pickering: I joined Pittsburgh Water in 2016 after spending about five years working at DC Water doing government relations and community relations communications work. And joined Pittsburgh Water, at the time it was called PWSA, we've since rebranded. And it was a very interesting time, Piers. The utility had just exceeded the lead action level. It had recently terminated its executive director and there was a lot of concern about the future viability of the utility and how it was going to address this lead issue that came quickly on the heels of the issues out in Flint, Michigan.
[00:01:36] Piers Clark: We're going to come back to that in a second. But just before we do, tell me how many people you serve, the big cities that are covered in the region. Is it water and wastewater?
[00:01:45] Will Pickering: We are the largest combined water, sewer, utility authority here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh is the second largest city in Pennsylvania. We serve about half a million people on average. And we handle everything except for wastewater treatment. Wastewater treatment is handled by a county entity here in our service territory. So, we are very involved here and we are a regional supplier of drinking water, even outside the boundaries of the city of Pittsburgh.
[00:02:10] Piers Clark: Now, the topic for today is around lead and lead replacement, and you mentioned in 2016, you were just leaving a very senior comms role at DC Water, and there'd been this national crisis with the Flint crisis all around lead poisoning. For people who aren't familiar with that crisis, can you give me the 30 seconds on that?
[00:02:29] Will Pickering: In Flint, Michigan here in the Midwest of the United States, there was a very high lead action level exceedance that was actually unearthed by some community advocates. And there was a lot of discussion nationally that caused water utilities to revisit how well they were treating for lead in their drinking water. In Flint, Michigan, their issues were related to switching their source water and then they did not apply appropriate corrosion control. The circumstances in Pittsburgh were slightly different. We did not change our source water, but it was evident in 2016 that the corrosion control treatment we were using for lead was not effective. Because of all of the national attention in Flint, all of a sudden in the summer of 2016, right as I joined the organization as the communications manager, the person responsible for communicating with the public, this issue hit the desks of those here in Pittsburgh. It was a very interesting scenario and how the organization pivoted to respond to such crisis.
[00:03:24] Piers Clark: That's Flint, Michigan. We're now in Pennsylvania, you've just arrived, and you see that you're above the levels. Now give us some numbers. How far above the levels were you? How big a problem was this?
[00:03:34] Will Pickering: The lead action level is 15 parts per billion. And I believe that first round that exceeded had the utility at about 20 or 21 parts per billion; a significant level above. No doubt that the corrosion control treatment was not working as planned.
[00:03:49] Piers Clark: And what corrosion control treatment were you using?
[00:03:52] Will Pickering: At that time, they were using soda ash and lime. I was relatively new, but I had the experience of working at DC Water. It had lead issues in the early 2000s and they really used that concern and the community outcry as an opportunity to become a more transparent organization and really become the world class utility they are known for. So, coming into this role, I knew that this was surmountable. This was something that we could figure out with the right engineering minds. Corrosion control is something that, has been around since the 90s. Orthophosphate was an additive used widely in cities a lot like Pittsburgh. We needed to get permit approval from the state to change our corrosion control, which took some time. But then we also needed to work toward replacing the lead lines, really removing the risk. And it took a little while for us to get our program started, but the emphasis was as soon as we got started, we wanted to have the most comprehensive and proactive lead service line replacement program in the country to demonstrate to our customers we were taking this issue seriously.
[00:04:50] Piers Clark: Which of the pipes that have got the lead because in the UK, we still have some old houses that have got the service pipes inside the house behind the meter. But you actually have them in your network?
[00:04:59] Will Pickering: Yes, our responsibility is for the service line, which is running from the water main in the street. Here in Pittsburgh, it often ends at the curb and one of the tricky parts of this problem was that the ownership ends there, though lead extends from the curb into the property, often known as the private side. And so initially there was an approach that said, we're going to handle what we're responsible for and it's up to the homeowner if they want to replace their private side. But we knew better that, replacing just half of the job not only wasn't efficient, but could actually, create a bigger problem at that particular residence. So, we created a program where, even though that private side isn't our direct responsibility, we were going to replace and fund the full replacement. Which is something that's now, envisioned in the updated lead and copper rule, but we were doing this back in 2018.
[00:05:47] Piers Clark: That was a bold decision for someone to have made, but of course, it's what buys you the license and the trust with the very public that you're serving. Okay. So, you had a anti-corrosion measures that weren't working. You were moving to orthophosphate dosing. You were also implementing a renewal program. How long did it take to get that through all the different approvals? How much kickback did you get? How much resistance did you have?
[00:06:09] Will Pickering: As I mentioned, there was some pushback on whether or not we wanted to embark upon taking responsibility for that private side of the waterline and attorneys and others were very nervous about it. When we presented it to the community, we recognize that this was going to cost more than us just doing our part, but it was the right thing to do. And I can count on one hand in the dozens of community meetings that I've attended of anyone pushing back on that. It was very well received and I think it's because everyone recognized we were in a crisis. It was a public health issue. We needed to rally around and do the right thing, even if it cost more dollars and cents. We are still embarking upon that replacement program, but we have about 12, 500 public lines replaced. As I mentioned, when we run into a private line, we replace those as well. Our corrosion control came into compliance in the summer of 2020. We had to install some new equipment out in our distribution system. We had an uncovered reservoir we needed to condition for and be able to work around in order for us to add orthophosphate. Now, we are fully in compliance. We're more than halfway done with replacing all the lead lines and we're keeping our foot on the gas pedal to make sure that we get the job done by 2027. We're fully replacing. So, we're removing all of the lead out of our system.
[00:07:19] Piers Clark: What I think I heard you saying there is that you are fully compliant. So, you could stop now and say, "Job done. We're compliant. Let's move on." But actually, your hunt is continuing to remove all of the lead that's in the Pittsburgh system.
[00:07:31] Will Pickering: I came in as the communications person in 2016, and then in 2020 was elevated into the role I have today. So experienced a lot of the program from different perspective, and then, leading the organization when, as you mentioned, we were technically compliant, we could have packed up and gone home. Our board of directors and I personally felt it was important for us to lean into this issue. Take advantage of it while the customers were still aware of it. And then at the very same time, we were really lucky in order to be able to take advantage of the federal funding that was a lot more plentiful in the last few years through the bipartisan infrastructure law. We have taken advantage of grants more so than any other utility in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to be able to really supercharge this replacement program, and we hope those dollars will be available for the next few years.
[00:08:16] Piers Clark: You talk about, leading within the state of Pennsylvania, you must be the thought leaders within North America in this area.
[00:08:23] Will Pickering: We hear from about a dozen different entities each year who reach out to us. We're really happy to share our lessons and how we've developed our program. So, for any other utilities tuning into this podcast, please do reach out. We have no trade secrets. We want everyone to learn from us and be able to stand up a program like this. A key part of this, because we're inside people's homes, is developing enough team and support to be able to interact with customers. It's not like normal utility work where you're just working out in the street. You're having to work with people's schedules. You're inside their property. There's a lot of fun interaction. But in order to do it the right way and get them to allow us to replace the full lead service line, you really have to invest in the community outreach component of this program.
[00:09:03] Piers Clark: You're not actually going into the houses though, are you? Surely, you're not going to people's bathrooms and taking out the lead piping from there.
In Pittsburgh, it's older housing stock and the service line enters in through the basement wall. Our meters are in the basement because of how cold it is here. While we're in there, if they need to update their meter to AMI and if there are other issues we make sure that it's all handled in one visit.
What would you not do that you did do if you could do it again?
[00:09:27] Will Pickering: We would have spent less time spinning our wheels. I think most people agreed that the right thing to do was full-service line replacement. But we spent a fair amount of time worrying about, "What if we were sued? What are the plumbing community going to think? Are they going to be an uproar because we're taking business from them?" And that wasn't productive.
[00:09:45] Piers Clark: Did the plumbing community throw their arms up in horror?
[00:09:48] Will Pickering: No, in fact, they found a lot of work in our programs.
[00:09:51] Piers Clark: Perhaps the biggest challenge was making sure that the teams that you had out there had the softer skills necessary to engage with Joe Public so that there's a positive experience for the customer all the way through the journey.
[00:10:02] Will Pickering: That's absolutely right. We have a whole team within our customer service department dedicated to making sure that we interact with these customers and explain, pre- and post-construction, what they need to do.
[00:10:11] Piers Clark: How long will the program run until? When do you expect to be able to dust yourself down and say job done?
[00:10:17] Will Pickering: 2027 is our plan. As I alluded to, we've baked a lot of our assumptions into continuing to having access to federal funding here in the US. With some of those funding streams up for debate, that may require us to go back and reassess. But I am very hopeful we can get the job done in 2027 and maybe you can have me back on and I can tell you how we finish the job.
[00:10:37] Piers Clark: Hell yes, looking forward to that. If you could go back to 2016 and you're at DC Water and the opportunity comes up at Pittsburgh, do you take it? Do you not take it? What would you say?
[00:10:46] Will Pickering:I'll absolutely take it. And probably about five years in that person would have kicked myself for having taken it, but it's been so rewarding working with this team here and turning this organization around and knowing if, my tenure were to stop today, that we've done some really important work, especially improving public health.
[00:11:02] Piers Clark:Now let's answer the question, going back 25 years to when you left university and you were humming and hawing about where to go next, should you become an attorney at law or go into the water sector? What advice would you give yourself?
[00:11:14] Will Pickering: I think it's keep an open mind. I never would have scripted that I would be a utility leader in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Coming out of school, I had a much different career path. But the people that I met in this industry made this very attractive. I had a mentor in George Hawkins that I followed in DC government and over to DC water and just fell in love with the things that we do as an industry and the people in it who are so open to sharing and learning. And so don't hold tight to that script. Keep an open mind and see where life takes you and it certainly can be a lot more rewarding that way.
[00:11:46] Piers Clark: George Hawkins was also a mentor to me for a period and he is an exceptional man. You have been listening to the Exec Exchange with me Piers Clark and I've been talking with Will Pickering the chief executive at Pittsburgh Water and we've been discussing lead replacement. Hope you can join us next time. Thank you.