Thomas Content

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A.O. Smith Corp. may work with Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett to provide water filtration products to homes that are most in need of it, the company’s CEO said.

The company and the mayor’s office are in discussions after the mayor reached out to A.O. Smith, which acquired a water filtration products company last month.

“We are working with the mayor’s office to provide appropriate products through our recent acquisition, Aquasana, at significant discounts to homes in the city that the mayor’s office determines have the greatest need,” said Ajita Rajendra, chairman and chief executive of Milwaukee-based A.O. Smith.

The discussions come one week after Barrett urged that owners and residents of homes built before the early 1950s should install faucet filters capable of removing lead from drinking water.

The mayor’s comments came at a Sept. 7 public forum on drinking water at Marquette University Law School.

Jodie Tabak, a spokeswoman for Barrett, said, he "is interested in pursuing companies that manufacture water filters, and of course his first call was to the hometown company. Mayor Barrett appreciates their willingness to work with us."

When Barrett reached out to the company, Rajendra said A.O. Smith was glad to assist.

"I really applaud the mayor for proactively trying to deal with the issue," Rajendra said. "He has reached out to us to help — and we will certainly do that. We will certainly help out where we can."

Rajendra noted that aging pipes are a concern in cities across the country, including Milwaukee.

“From everything I read, it certainly seems we have a water contamination problem in some parts of the city. The average age of pipes in our major cities is 50 years. Milwaukee is probably higher than that,” Rajendra said.

Faucet filters to remove lead from water urged

While “this is not necessarily a new problem,” Rajendra said, “events like Flint make us conscious of it and raise its priority.”

A.O. Smith announced in August that it had bought Aquasana for $87 million. Aquasana is projected to report revenue of about $44 million this year, and A.O. Smith says its global water treatment business would have about $200 million in sales this year.

Based in Austin, Texas, Aquasana makes water treatment products such as carbon filters for water pitchers, shower filters, faucet filters, whole-house filters and water-softening systems.

The U.S. residential water treatment market, estimated to generate $2 billion in annual sales, is expanding given aging infrastructure as well as heightened consumer awareness brought on by events such as drinking water crises in the past few years, including Flint, Mich., and Toledo, Ohio.

Details of the A.O. Smith offer to the city are still being worked out by the mayor's office, so it’s unclear which specific products would be provided to Milwaukeeans, how many would be provided or when that would happen.

Last week, Milwaukee Public Works Commissioner Ghassan Korban said it would cost at least $2.1 million for the city to purchase one $30 filter for each of the 70,000 residences served by a lead lateral.

The Milwaukee Water Works advises residents of older homes to flush a cold water faucet until it feels colder, especially if a faucet has not been used for six hours or longer, such as overnight.