It’s been more than a year since the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority agreed to reimburse property owners for costs of replacing their lead water lines, but some are still waiting to get back some of the thousands of dollars that they paid out of pocket.
The authority’s program to replace many property owners’ privately owned water lines has benefited many, but has rankled others who already paid for the work themselves. A water authority spokesman said this week that they “haven’t forgotten” about property owners seeking reimbursement, but there’s as yet no final decision on reimbursement rules.
That decision may come later this month, but it’s been a long time coming for some.
Lead line replacement “cost me $2,500 in November [2016], right around Christmas time, too," said Theresa Healy, of Marshall-Shadeland, in an interview this week. PWSA was replacing its part of the service line, and suggested that she do the same with hers, since it was lead. "I have a little girl [now 11] and my own self and a dog, and of course I was going to replace it.”
In early 2018, she began calling PWSA, asking about reimbursement, and she has followed up this year. What did they say? “That it was still basically on the table or in talks," she said. "They don’t know if I would get all of my money back, but I should get some of it back.”
So what’s the holdup?
"What's taking so long is we are trying to expand the pool of people who may apply for this funding," said city Councilwoman Deborah Gross, a member of the PWSA board.
“As a board member, I wanted to be sure that PWSA set the start and end dates as broadly as possible, given the amount of money in the fund, so more people could be eligible for the reimbursement,”
After Attorney General Josh Shapiro filed a criminal complaint against PWSA in February, alleging that it failed to give adequate notice and collect timely water samples when it removed certain lead service lines in 2016 and 2017, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette identified and wrote to owners of 124 of the involved properties.
A recurring theme emerged: People who were urged by PWSA to replace the privately owned parts of their water lines — to prevent a potentially harmful partial lead service line replacement — spent thousands of dollars, because at the time the authority only covered the costs of replacing the public portion of lead lines, maintaining that it was barred by the since-amended Municipal Authorities Act from covering private costs.
Last year, the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority, or Pennvest, provided nearly $49 million to replace about 2,800 residential lead service connections in 2019, city and state officials said.
Service lines are split into two sections: a publicly owned segment that’s closest to the main, and a privately owned segment that completes the connection into the building. The state money now allows PWSA to replace both segments of lead lines when they contain lead, but property owners must give written consent for the private-side work, according to PWSA spokesman Will Pickering.
A policy, which the PWSA executive board approved on Jan. 26, 2018, states that if a homeowner replaced their private side lead lines between July 1, 2016, and Dec. 31, 2018, PWSA will offer a reimbursement. The reimbursement amount will be based on the average cost of replacement for private line segments replaced during the 2018 construction period, the policy states.
This only stands for customers who covered their own costs of replacing private lead lines while the authority completed work on public lines, Mr. Pickering said.
Minutes from the Jan. 26, 2018, meeting also state that the reimbursement amount was subject to formal review and approval by the PWSA board of directors no later than Jan. 31, 2019. Authority officials missed their imposed deadline, but expect it to be addressed at the next scheduled board meeting on May 24, Mr. Pickering said. PWSA board members also must vote to decide reimbursement averages. “We haven’t forgotten about it,” Mr. Pickering said.
Eligible customers are required to provide documents proving they paid for private line replacements while PWSA worked on public lead lines, officials said.
“For the customers who call us, we are taking their contact info and building a list of those making requests for reimbursements,” Mr. Pickering said.
Jamin Bogi, of the South Side Slopes, heeded PWSA's call to replace his side of the leaden line at the same time the authority replaced its portion. His family spent $3,280, paying a contractor to do all of the administrative work — including several meetings with PWSA — and dig a trench alongside the house and under a thick concrete retaining wall.
“We have emailed and called several times with PWSA [regarding] reimbursement," he wrote in an email response to the Post-Gazette's questions. "Our last contact with PWSA was with the Lead Help Desk on Friday, May 3, when we called them. We were told by [a call-taker] that they haven't been given information on how to do reimbursements. ... We have received no reimbursement.”
He doesn't regret getting the work done. "We look at it as an investment in the home. Sure would be nice to have a partial reimbursement though."
In late 2017, Patrick Gritz, while addressing a water leak, got word from PWSA that he should replace the lead line in an Upper Lawrenceville house he intended to sell.
"I felt like I had to do it. I'm selling the house. I wanted it as a selling point. I don't want to sell it with lead lines," said the Squirrel Hill resident.
He personally unearthed the line, ripping up concrete underneath his basement, and paid a plumber $2,000 to switch out the pipe.
Should he be reimbursed? “That’d be nice. I’m not that confident that will happen, but that would be nice.”
“My main concern is getting lead out as quickly as we can,” city Councilman Corey O’Connor said. “If people keep receipts and PWSA reimburses them for the work they had done, we should do that. We have to do it.”
Not everyone is disappointed with PWSA’s lead line replacement services.
Matt Schaefer, of the South Side Slopes, can't remember for sure whether PWSA urged him to replace the private part of his line when it came through the area, replacing their pipes, a few years ago. If so, he ignored it, despite a high lead content in his water.
“Then they came through with their new program," under which the authority foots the bill for the replacement of the private line. "And I of course jumped on it. ... They replaced my line for free.”
Now his lead reading is one-sixth what it was previously, and he isn't out any money. “I was very happy. They got in touch with me. Set it up in relatively short order," he said. “For once, holding off paid off.”
Lacretia Wimbley: 412-263-1510, lwimbley@post-gazette.com or follow @Wimbleyjourno on Twitter. Rich Lord: 412-263-1542 or rlord@post-gazette.com.
First Published: May 8, 2019, 11:30 a.m.
