I’m seeing PA American Water commercials on youtube making claims about how safe and reliable they are. You know it’s bad and they’re probably feeling some heat. There must be a lot of people writing letters like I have about the fees, the slow processing of payments, the dirty water without notice, and the pollution of our local river.
This privatized water company polluted the stream and river and got away with it by saying they will “invest” in the cleanup. Meanwhile the price hikes are allowed to proceed, and representatives in the PA state house testify about constituents peeing in their backyard because they can’t afford their water bill.
The water company hasn’t responded to any of my letters. And Governor Josh Shapiro’s office won’t talk to me about this on the phone, wouldn’t even take my name actually, and won’t get back to me from online contact letters nor letters in the mail. Meanwhile the guy who ran his campaign on lowering utility bills, Rep Rob Bresnahan, had to refer me to the state senator’s office, who also hasn’t gotten back to me about this. And what’s really galling is that Rob Bresnahan is all in on data centers “popping up” all over our community, when it’s known the water demands are excessive.
It’s just disgusting that PA American Water is spending money on advertising instead of spending that money on fixing the problems.
Whenever something bad happens to a corporation, often its first move is not to deal with the actual problem, but to manage the negative perception caused by that problem. — Toxic Sludge is Good for You, 2002 documentary