N@N

BRYN MAWR, Pa.--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Aqua America, Inc. (NYSE: WTR) announced today that its Pennsylvania subsidiary has received approval from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to acquire three systems serving more than 7,500 people. Two of the systems are privately operated and one is owned by a municipal authority.

"This is a great growth venture for Aqua America companies"

Aqua Americaas Pennsylvania wastewater subsidiary, Little Washington Wastewater Company (LWWC), has signed an agreement to provide wastewater services to The Village at Valley Forge, a mixed-use community currently under construction in the King of Prussia submarket of Philadelphia.

The development a" described by its builder as aa mixed-use lifestyle center, or avillagea with its own town centera a" is being built on the 125-acre site of the former Valley Forge Golf Club adjacent to the nationas largest shopping mall, the King of Prussia Mall, in Upper Merion Township, Montgomery County. It is also situated near the intersection of four major highways including the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The project will include a mix of retail, office, residential, hotel and entertainment use.

Under the agreement, Realen Properties of Berwyn, (Realen) will build the collection system and pumping station, then dedicate it to LWWC which will own and operate the wastewater system. In a separate earlier agreement, Realen contracted Aqua Americaas non-regulated subsidiary Aqua Resources, Inc. to build the pump station. Aqua Americaas largest operating subsidiary, Aqua Pennsylvania, Inc., which already serves public water to the remainder of the township, will provide public water to the Village community as well. LWWC will purchase the wastewater assets for $1. Aqua anticipates closing on the first phase of this acquisition in the early part of the second quarter of 2012.

aThis is a great growth venture for Aqua America companies,a said Chairman and CEO Nicholas DeBenedictis. aThe fact that our water and wastewater subsidiaries will have the opportunity to provide service to customers using infrastructure that is built by our non-regulated business makes this a unique business opportunity as well as a great growth venture as our water and wastewater utilities have the potential to serve an additional 10,000 people.a

Aqua Pennsylvania, Inc. (Aqua) will acquire the water system of Mifflin Township Water Authority (MTWA), located in Mifflin Township, Columbia County. The system, which serves more than 1,500 residents in the Mifflinville area, is currently under a Consent Order and Agreement with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection that focuses on unaccounted for water. Aqua will be paying $1.1 million at closing.

Aqua was also given approval to purchase the water and wastewater assets of Total Environmental Solutions, Inc. ("TESI"), which serves 6,000 residents in the Beech Mountain Lakes resort community located in portions of Butler and Dennison townships, Luzerne County for $1.5 million. The majority of the customers are residential.

Aqua anticipates the TESI and MTWA acquisitions will close late in the first quarter or early in the second quarter of 2012.

aAqua has the technical, regulatory and financial resources to effectively operate these systems and invest in needed improvements to meet current and future customer needs,a DeBenedictis said. aThese acquisitions also benefit our customers through regionalization and economies of scale.a

Aqua America is one of the largest U.S.-based publicly-traded water utilities serving almost 3 million residents in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Texas, New Jersey, Indiana, Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, New York and Georgia. Aqua America is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol WTR.

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that address, among other things: the timing and projected benefits from the acquisitions; the approximate number of people served by the acquired systems, the expected build-out of the developments served by the acquired systems, the impact the Company may have on the acquired systems, and the continuation of the companyas strategy to pursue the acquisition of such systems. There are important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements including: the risk that the acquired companyas business will not be successfully integrated; and other key factors that we have indicated could adversely affect our business and financial performance discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011, which is on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Aqua America is not under any obligationa"and expressly disclaims any such obligationa"to update or alter its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

WTRF