Essential Utilities’ Aqua Pennsylvania acquires Shenandoah Water System for $12M

Essential Utilities announced its Aqua Pennsylvania subsidiary completed the purchase of the Municipal Authority of the Borough of Shenandoah water system for $12M. MABS serves approximately 3,000 customers in Schuylkill County, PA. Parts of the Shenandoah system’s water infrastructure date back to the 1800s. MABS currently has $5.5M in debt and the system deals with frequent outages and main leaks. Water loss is estimated at some 60 percent. Essential plans to invest more than $23M in MABS over the next 10 years, including $10M to replace water mains. The infrastructure improvements promise system-wide cost savings over time by: increasing reliability and reducing water loss; improving water quality; improving operational efficiency and environmental performance. All full-time MABS employees were offered employment at Aqua, after completing the company’s standard hiring process.