American Water's Arm Chalks Out Investment Plans for 2019

American Water Works Company  AWK announced that its unit, Pennsylvania American Water will invest nearly $355 million in new system upgrades in 2019. The planned investment will allow the company to replace and upgrade its aging infrastructure to keep its services reliable and affordable for customers.

Pennsylvania American Water’s 2019 investment is part of American Water’s total capital expenditure for 2019 in the range of $1.7-$1.8 billion. From 2019 through 2023, American Water aims to invest within $8-$8.6 billion, which will help improve earnings by 7-10% per year in the aforesaid period from a 2017 base.

Investment is Essential in Water Space

The water and wastewater infrastructure of the United States is aging, and requires immediate attention. Per American Water by 2020, nearly 44% of the existing U.S. pipe infrastructure can be classified as poor or very poor, with the service life of the pipelines being over. As a result of its crumbling water infrastructure, more than 20% or 2 trillion gallons of treated water is lost in the United States each year.

Massive funding is needed to upgrade the quality of the U.S. water infrastructure. Per an American Water Works Association report, the cost of restoring aging underground water pipelines in the United States will be at least $1 trillion in the next 25 years.

Hence, ongoing investment to replace and upgrade the old water infrastructure will help reduce the loss of precious water. Apart from American Water, water utilities like Aqua America Inc. WTR announced that it is going to invest more than $555 million in 2019 to strengthen its water and wastewater infrastructure. This will be part of the company’s investment target of more than $1.4 billion in the 2019-2021 time period.

SOURCE ARTICLE ON ZACK'S ABOUT INVESTMENT PLANS OF AMERICAN WATER IN 2019

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