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Circle of Blue
Laura Gersony Read the full article. It’s just before 6 p.m. on a breezy Wednesday evening in Little Village, a neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side. Department of Water Management staffers lift two tables out of the trunk of a minivan on the 3100 block of Ridgeway Ave. They drape them with blue tablecloths bearing DWM’s logo. A small crowd gathers as the staffers, alternating between English and Spanish, explain that Chicago has embarked on a novel public health program. The city is offering to replace toxic lead water pipes leading to their homes — at no cost to the residents. But the offer, unique among American municipalities, generates scant enthusiasm. In fact it sinks like a stone thrown into a pool. A man wearing a red ball cap is the first to speak up. “How many people have died of lead poisoning in Chicago in the past 100 years?” he asks in Spanish. Michigan Radio
Steve Carmody Read the full article. The deadline for Flint property owners to take part in the city’s free lead service line replacement program is just a few days away. During the Flint water crisis, the pipes were a primary source of lead in the city’s drinking water. Replacing the aging pipes became a priority. Since 2016, more than 27,000 service lines have been inspected. More than 10,000 have been replaced. Grand Rapids Business Journal
Rachel Watson Read the full article. The Grand Rapids City Commission on Tuesday approved and accepted a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency $5.1 million grant to help replace about 1,600 private lead service lines over the next four years in Neighborhoods of Focus within the city of Grand Rapids. Since 2017, when it began full replacements, the city has replaced about 1,700 lead service lines. The project will replace lead service lines between the curb box and water meter with copper water services in addition to sidewalk and lawn restoration. In previous years, lead service lines replacement on private property has been the responsibility of the homeowner. However, beginning in 2017, in advance of changes in rules, the city took on the responsibility for eligible homeowners to better serve its communities and fast-track lead service replacement in these neighborhoods. WoodTV
Brittany Flowers, Madalyn Buursma Read the full article. GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The city of Grand Rapids has begun the work of replacing lead pipes using a United States Environmental Protection Agency grant. The $5.1 million grant will be used to help replace around 1,600 private lead service lines, Grand Rapids said in a Thursday release. The project will take about four years to complete in what the city calls “Neighborhoods of Focus,” some of the oldest developed areas in the region. Crews have already started replacing lead pipes in neighborhoods bounded by Franklin Street, Eastern Avenue, Hall Street and Jefferson Avenue. It will take six months to replace around 230 private lead service lines in those neighborhoods, the city said. The Northern Virginia Daily
Alex Bridges Read the full article. Front Royal may soon offer property owners an incentive to upgrade water lines. Finance Director B.J. Wilson during a Monday Town Council work session explained potential programs in which property owners could receive assistance to replace galvanized water and sewer lines. Council members previously asked staff to review options on how property owners would repay the town for the line replacements or repairs. The town can place a lien on the property as a tax assessment for the replacement, Wilson explained. Since the town could not seek repayment as an extra fee on utility bills, Wilson explained the town would send a separate bill to property owners. The town would reimburse property owners 75% of eligible costs up to $5,000 for reducing the risk of exposure to lead in drinking water by replacing lead, corroded or galvanized water service lines. CBS Detroit
Sara Powers Read the full article. GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A western Michigan city will use a $5.1 million federal grant to help replace about 1,600 private service lines due to concerns over lead. The work in some of Grand Rapids’ oldest developed neighborhoods is expected to take four years, the city said Thursday in a release. The Grand Rapids City Commission on Tuesday approved and accepted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant, which is part of the city’s four-year project to replace private lead service lines in 10 census tracts with copper pipe. The funding will complement another planned $16 million in capital investment for lead service line replacements over the same period. DOES THIS CITY’S PROGRESS ON REMOVING LEAD WATER LINES SHOW THE POTENTIAL FOR U.S.-WIDE REPLACEMENT?7/15/2021
Ensia
Lynne Peeples Read the full article. In July 2018, tests showed that the drinking water supply serving Yvette Jordan’s home in Newark, New Jersey, contained nearly 45 parts per billion (ppb) of lead — three times the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s action level for the neurotoxic heavy metal. It was a similar story for many families across her city. A lead crisis had struck Newark, and it was drawing comparisons to the tainted water that devastated Flint, Michigan, a few years earlier. Yet what subsequently played out in Newark — for the most part, anyway — should serve as a “national model,” says Jordan, who is a high school history teacher. American City & County
Michelle M. Havich Read the full article. Five municipalities were selected by the Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) to participate in a Lead-Free Water Challenge with the goal of helping them replace all of their lead pipes. The municipalities will receive technical assistance, connections to resources and funders, policy guidance and information sharing. EPIC has teamed up with Blue Conduit, WaterPIO, Center for Geospatial Solutions and other partners to deliver technical assistance to these five municipalities. The Lead-Free Water Challenge is supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Spring Point Partners. The chosen municipalities will receive technical assistance, connections to resources and funders, policy guidance, and information-sharing through peer networks. Daily Herald
Elena Ferrarin Read the full article. The village of Palatine will reimburse residents for two-thirds of the cost of replacing their own lead pipes. The village council unanimously approved Tuesday night the creation of new water service line replacement cost-sharing program, to be funded by $300,000 in grant money from the Northwest Water Commission. The village received a total $582,000 from the commission and allocated $282,000 to water system improvements and technology upgrades. There about 310 residential lead water lines in Palatine, out of a total 19,000 or so. The Woodstock Sentinel-Review
Tyler Kula Read the full article. With a fewer-than-expected number of homes in Sarnia’s southwest being found with lead service lines seeping the toxic metal into drinking water, the city can afford to foot the full bill of replacing those water pipes, city officials say. “This puts us in a great position where hopefully, within a few years, we can declare ourselves lead-free,” said operations and engineering general manager David Jackson. “That’s very exciting.” Since 2019, Sarnia has been testing homes for high levels of lead in drinking water. The provincial limit is 10 micrograms per litre, or 10 parts per billion. |
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