Bryn Mawr 100: Aqua America

Aqua America's mission began in January of 1886 when a handful of Swarthmore professors were given a charter to supply the county with drinking water. They did so successfully and incorporated shortly thereafter under the name Springfield Water Company.

"What we do is take water that is undrinkable, and make it drinkable," explained Chairman and CEO Nick DeBenedictis, pithily summing up the mission of the nation's second largest, but Bryn Mawr's biggest, purveyor of drinking water.

Almost 40 years after its inception, after expanding operations to 58 municipalities in three counties, shareholders voted to change the name to Philadelphia Suburban Water Company, which the company went by until 2003 when, after a period of "expansion through acquisition" established their presence in 13 separate states, they opted for the broader Aqua America.

While the name has changed, the name of the game has remained the same: clean water.

Aqua America starts with "raw" reservoir water, pumps it into a plant where it's treated with chlorine and an admixed coagulant that leeches impurities. After that, the water travels through a sedimentary basin, where the heavy impurities settle to the bottom, then through a filter that gets out the finer particulates. Then it gets a subsequent filtration treatment, traveling through 22 inches of coal, 6 inches of sand, and 17 inches of gravel before being treated with small amounts of chlorine and lime to keep it disinfected and prevent pipe corrosion. What's left after that? Drinkable water.

And for Aqua America, the business of water has been good business indeed.

"We raised our dividend for the 21st time in the last 20 years just last week," said DeBenedictis, who formerly headed the Pennsylvania branch of the Environmental Protection Agency—the agency that oversees Aqua.

"And we're private investor-owned, and most of our investors are small retail investors, not institutional investors. Many probably live in areas that we serve the water," the chairman added.

DeBenedictis also emphasized Aqua America's interest in giving back to the community that's housed it all these years.

"Whenever there's a project, we're one of the helpers," he said. "I would argue that we did a lot for the community in rebuilding our corporate headquarters three years ago and deciding to stay here with our 600 employees."

Editor's Note: This is the fifth in a . Check back with Bryn Mawr-Gladwyne Patch for more profiles leading up to the Sept. 10 celebration.