So I've been renting in Pittsburgh for about 15 years now and have moved a ton and there's definitely an uptick in landlords having the tenant pay the water bill. This didn't feel like the norm at all when I moved here.

My current and past landlord required we pay it and I sorted out a system with them where basically i am either getting a copy of the bill and mailing the water company my payment or sending the landlord the money when they pay the bill.

The 4 - 6 week transfer is standard but I believe if you're not the house owner the actual owner needs to show you are a tenant since they are the proprietor (could be wrong about that). To avoid footing one of your landlord's overdue bills you'll have to work something out with them, but my experience with this trend is it is sloppy and the landlords often don't want to put in the effort that is needed to do this cleanly, even though they don't want to pay the water bill.