PITTSBURGH — Sometimes the water is on, sometimes it’s not. That’s what one Pittsburgh neighborhood has dealt with for years, and they never know when it’s going to happen.
Brighton Heights neighbors tell us the epicenter of the issues is at Woods Run and Brighton Road, where water main breaks have occurred.
According to residents we spoke with, they say for years it’s been the same spot every time. The most recent water outage happened this weekend, impacting the entire service area, which encompasses almost all of the Brighton Heights neighborhood.
“Hey, we need water in Brighton Heights, too. We are important here, too,” Karis Bowman said, the owner of California Coffee Bar.
California Coffee Bar is a thriving shop that relies on unreliable water.
“The first time we began having water issues was back in September of 2022, it just stopped working one day,” Bowman said.
According to Brighton Heights residents and businesses, they’ve experienced dozens of water main breaks since 2021, compounded by low water pressure and rolling outages.
“We had to close last Saturday, and that’s one of our top sell days, and we had to close at 9:30 a.m., so we just lost a whole weekend of sales,” Bowman said.
The water service isn’t only impacting businesses. Neighbors say water will gush out onto the road, impacting drivers, nearby homes and the community’s water supply.
But, Pittsburgh Water hasn’t solved the issue.
According to a spokesperson for Pittsburgh Water, the company is aware of the ongoing issue that impacts a 16-inch mainline along Brighton Road. However, the cause of the water main breaks is unknown.
The water company is also doing maintenance on the drinking water system in the area.
“This involves the exercising of valves and where needed, installing or replacing valves to minimize impacted areas and to regulate water pressure to minimize the impact of water main breaks at Woods Run and Brighton Road,” Pittsburgh Water’s statement says in part.
Bowman says it isn’t just an inconvenience; it is dangerous.
“A lot of people want answers they want to know why it keeps breaking they want to see why we are not fixing it right the first time,” she said.
Bowman thinks that if it was another neighborhood, it would have be fixed by now.
“If this was a different part of Pittsburgh, would it be addressed if this was Lawrenceville or Oakland?” she asked.
We asked the water company what residents should do when they experience yet another outage, and they said to contact their emergency line immediately to alert them.
They also said they are reviewing their communication alerts to provide more lead time for planned outages and repairs.
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