Water customers facing mandatory lead service line replacements by the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority could be in for some help.
City council will introduce legislation Tuesday that would let the city pay to replace customer-owned lead connections when PWSA swaps out adjoining lead pipes underground. Other legal and funding mechanisms have yet to be finalized, but the move should accelerate the city’s fight against lead contamination hazards, according to Mayor Bill Peduto’s office.
The administration crafted the bill.
It’s “the next step to take ownership of the problem on behalf of the homeowner — because this is a public safety issue,” said Kevin Acklin, Mr. Peduto’s chief of staff. “This affects not only the person living in the home now, but who will live there in the future.”
Elevated lead test results last year triggered a federal remediation rule, requiring PWSA to replace at least 7 percent of its lead service lines each year. A service line connects a customer’s in-house plumbing to a water main beneath the street.
The replacement mandate applies only to the public side of those lines, which is closest to the water main. But the private, customer-owned section of line, which finishes the service connection into the building, often includes lead, too. PWSA estimates that most properties with lead on the public side also have it on the private side.
Although PWSA has offered customers a chance to replace their lead service lines when authority contractors swap out the public side, not everyone has agreed to that private work, which can cost several thousand dollars. PWSA couldn’t immediately say Monday how many customers have paid to replace their own lead connections during public-side work, but spokesman Will Pickering said the percentage is “lower than desired.”
That’s problematic in part because research has linked partial lead service line replacements to a heightened risk of contamination from the metal. Exposure to lead is tied to developmental and other health problems.
PWSA halted the partial replacements this month after tests showed unacceptable lead levels in four homes where workers recently followed the practice. Mr. Acklin said he and Mr. Peduto will meet Tuesday with Gov. Tom Wolf and Patrick McDonnell, the state secretary for environmental protection, to discuss an agreement governing future lead line removals.
The state Department of Environmental Protection upholds the federal line replacement standard, Mr. Acklin said.
“DEP has been in discussions with PWSA regarding lead service line replacement, but cannot comment further,” DEP spokesman Neil Shader said in a statement Monday. He said the department supports efforts to remove public and private segments of lead service lines.
Mr. Acklin said conversations in Harrisburg will center in part on state funding that the city wants for PWSA, including for lead line replacements. It wasn’t clear when work could begin on publicly financed replacements of private lines, which would require property owner consent, but Mr. Acklin said the Peduto administration hopes to reach the overall agreement with the DEP by month’s end. Pending state legislation would expressly permit the use of public money on the private line work.
PWSA estimates indicate the number of lead service connections systemwide could eclipse 17,000. By June 30, the authority is planning to have replaced 425 lead service lines since July. Removing all lead service lines in its service area would likely cost $363 million and take 14 years, according to PWSA.
Other legislative provisions due Tuesday before city council would ban PWSA from performing partial lead service line replacements and require lead pipe disclosures as part of home sales.
The authority announced Monday an online map that shows initial results of an inspection program to identify lead service lines.
Adam Smeltz: 412-263-2625, asmeltz@post-gazette.com, @asmeltz.
First Published: June 13, 2017, 4:00 a.m.
