Insight & Influence: The Podcast

In late 2024, we launched our Insight & Influence e-newsletter to share information and updates on Harrisburg happenings and those with across the state. Now we've moved to the next level with a companion podcast, also called Insight & Influence.

Presented by C & G Strategies, Insight & Influence brings insightful conversations from influential people including government officials, industry leaders, and advocates from across the state.

Episode 10 of 2026 of the C & G Strategies podcast, Insight and Influence, is now available wherever you get your podcasts. In this episode, host David Caliguiri chats with Will Pickering, the CEO of Pittsburgh Water (also known as Pgh2O).

When you turn on the faucet to brush your teeth, cook dinner, or fill a glass, you probably don't think twice about where that water comes from. And honestly, that is exactly why the work Pittsburgh Water (Pgh2O) is doing matters so much. When a water utility does its job right, it becomes invisible. But the reality is that the quality of your water directly impacts your family's health, your wallet, and the growth of our entire region.

Pittsburgh residents benefit from decisions made many years ago, says Pickering. Pittsburgh Water draws from the fast-flowing, high-quality Allegheny River to serve about half a million people every single day, including residents, commuters, and students. Thanks to a decade of heavy investing and a clever food-grade additive called orthophosphate—which coats the inside of old pipes so water never actually touches lead—the city's water quality has never been better. Even better news for residents: the utility is working hard to completely remove all remaining residential lead pipes by 2027. Thanks to $120 million in funds from PENNVEST, they are replacing both the public and private sides of these lines at absolutely no direct cost to the homeowner, putting Pittsburgh a decade ahead of the EPA’s national 2037 deadline.

The conversation also delves into the unique regulatory, legal, and economic dynamics shaping the utility's operations – it’s the only municipal authority in Pennsylvania regulated by the Public Utility Commission (PUC). Looking forward, the utility actually has plenty of extra room to grow. Because the system was originally built for a much larger, industrial population, Will is inviting new businesses and neighboring towns to connect, which helps share the load and keep costs down for everyone. Finally, while recent massive upgrades have caused a bump in monthly bills, Pickering highlights their robust customer assistance programs—offering discounts and debt forgiveness for lower-income families so no one gets priced out of the city.