West Virginia American Water and Town of Cedar Grove Reach Agreement on Water System Acquisition

West Virginia American Water and the Town of Cedar Grove have reached an agreement that will allow West Virginia American Water to purchase the town’s water system and provide safe, reliable drinking water to its customers. The Town of Cedar Grove serves approximately 395 customers along Rt. 61 in the Upper Kanawha Valley.

"Our goal is to provide clean, dependable water service to customers throughout West Virginia,” said Robert Burton, president of West Virginia American Water. "West Virginia American Water looks forward to improving the Cedar Grove water system, allowing the town’s leadership to focus its time and attention on other matters of importance while our company handles water operation and maintenance going forward.”

West Virginia American Water will acquire the Town of Cedar Grove’s water distribution system, excluding its water treatment plant, and establish an interconnection between the company’s water lines in Kanawha County and the town’s water system. West Virginia American Water recently acquired water systems in the neighboring towns of East Bank and Glasgow which previously received its water supplies from the Town of Cedar Grove.

"It’s simply becoming too difficult to keep up with all the repairs necessary to maintain a reliable system, which makes me worry about the prospect of critical infrastructure failures that could cripple the Town,” said James Hudnall, mayor of Cedar Grove. "I don’t want our citizens to suffer because of an inability to properly maintain the system or respond quickly to issues. We’re doing our best to address issues as they occur, but we aren’t actively investing in infrastructure replacement, and we aren’t in a position to do so financially.”

Under the agreement, West Virginia American Water will make needed investments in the town’s water distribution system to improve water quality and system reliability. Upon closing, the company will own and operate the water lines as part of its Kanawha Valley water system, at which time the company will begin replacing aging infrastructure and installing new water meters. All customers currently served by the town will become customers of West Virginia American Water at the time of close. The proposed agreement requires the approval of the Public Service Commission.

West Virginia American Water, a subsidiary of American Water (NYSE: AWK), is the largest investor-owned water utility in the state, providing high-quality and reliable water services to approximately 545,000 people. With a history dating back to 1886, American Water is the largest and most geographically diverse U.S. publicly traded water and wastewater utility company. The company employs more than 7,000 dedicated professionals who provide regulated and market-based drinking water, wastewater and other related services to 15 million people in 46 states. American Water provides safe, clean, affordable and reliable water services to our customers to help make sure we keep their lives flowing. For more information, visit amwater.com and follow American Water on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

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