The Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa (MWAA) will begin restoring service to all disconnected households and suspend all shut-offs for unpaid water bills. The move comes as county and local municipal governments are attempting to deal with challenges stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.
At this time there are no known active cases of the virus in Beaver County, although a presumptive positive case was announced today in neighboring Washington County.
MWAA board chairman Matthew Mottes told BeaverCountian.com the move came after a discussion he had with Aliquippa Mayor Dwan Walker.
“Mayor Walker reached out to me and an informed me about what other cities were doing,” Mottes said. “We had a brief conversation about it, and I then reached out to other members of the MWAA board. We conducted an emergency vote and reached an agreement to restore service and suspend shut-offs.”
MWAA will also be waiving all late fees. The policy will stay in effect until at least April 15, when the authority will conduct its next regular meeting and decide how to proceed moving forward.
The MWAA has not yet identified the number of affected customers, but Mottes expects all of them will see their service restored in short order.
“We will be meeting tomorrow to identify people whose service was terminated for non-payment and will be restoring their service immediately,” Mottes said. “We should have everyone back on by the end of the weekend.
“This is in the best interest of the residents we serve. We feel the customers of the MWAA need to be accommodated so we can all get through this together.”
Mottes said he does not yet know how much the move will cost the MWAA, but he expects to reach out to state and federal officials for help.
“We plan on applying for any available state and federal aid to assist our customers as well,” Mottes said.
MWAA customers who have not seen their service restored by Monday can call the authority at 724-375-5525 for assistance.
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