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Report of Independent Accountants

To the Members of the
Erie County Water Authority

In our opinion, the accompanying balance sheets and the related statements of net income and earnings reinvested in the business and cash flows present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Erie County Water Authority (the Authority) at December 31, 2001 and 2000, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for the years then ended in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Authority's management; our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audits. We conducted our audits of these statements in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America, which require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatements. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, and evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
March 15, 2002