Pittsburgh's lead problem
The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority's water treatment plant in Lincoln–Lemington–Belmar. (Photo by Ryan Loew/PublicSource)

Test results show lead levels falling in Pittsburgh amid questions over PWSA’s future

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The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority [PWSA], plagued with an ongoing lead crisis, may finally have lead levels under control. New data, independently analyzed by PublicSource and verified by the state Department of Environmental Protection [DEP] on Wednesday, show that lead levels in Pittsburgh’s drinking water are going down, a sign that the authority’s efforts could be paying off. Lead test data collected from Pittsburgh homes between January and June show lead levels have fallen to 10 parts per billion [ppb], a significant drop from the last round of testing. Between July and December last year, the same tests produced lead levels of 21 ppb. While it’s not safe to consume any amount of lead, a known neurotoxin, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sets an “action limit” of 15 ppb, which the state DEP follows.

DATA

Find out how much Pennsylvania paid state employees in 2017. Take our quiz.

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At times, government may seem like a black hole with little transparency on how your tax dollars are being spent. That’s why shedding light on how the state of Pennsylvania spends your money is a top priority of ours. As we have been since 2014, PublicSource requested and is publishing data on the salaries that state government employees earned in 2017. All told, those figures account for several billion dollars of taxpayer money. Our data includes the agency an employee works for, when they were hired, their annual salary and the overtime they earned.

DATA

Find out how much Allegheny County paid its staff in 2017. Take our quiz.

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While you may be spending a third of your budget on housing or paying off debt, Allegheny County spends about a third of its budget on employee salaries. In 2017, 35 percent of the county’s operating budget went to paychecks. That line item, however, did not include health insurance or other benefits workers receive. PublicSource publishes data on the employee salaries from Allegheny County, the City of Pittsburgh and the state of Pennsylvania each year because we think residents should see how their tax dollars are spent. We've been reporting on salaries since 2014.

PublicSource Investigation
(Illustration by Anita DuFalla/PublicSource

How the Pittsburgh police bureau’s work with an IT company escaped city oversight for more than a decade

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Some members of city council struggle to recall B-Three Solutions or what the company has done for the city. B-Three has been commissioned to build the police bureau’s flagship data system and several related projects along with programs for the Department of Finance and the Department of Permits, Licenses and Inspections. The city has paid B-Three about $4.3 million since late 2009.