Lead pipe cost-sharing plan sparks concerns

A recommendation that the City of Port Washington pay half the cost of replacing lead water pipes on private properties was questioned Tuesday by the General Government and Finance Committee, especially since the city’s share of the cost would be paid through water rates.

“I want to understand the logic and the numbers,” Committee Chairman Dan Benning said. “I’m not understanding the details of the 50-50 split, funded by every resident of the city.”

Citing the cost of replacing the pipes — an estimated $7,500 per house — the Board of Public Works in May recommended that the city pick up half the cost of replacing lead and galvanized steel services between the curb and houses.

The board also recommended that the city give property owners three to five years to pay their share of the cost through a special assessment.

The replacement program would be mandatory if the city subsidizes the work, officials said.

The replacement program will be done in conjunction with the city’s street replacement program. It won’t begin until 2028, City Administrator Melissa Gossett said, because the street work planned for next year doesn’t include work in areas where the lead services are located.

If the city splits the cost with property owners, its share would come from the water rates, something that spurred Benning’s concern.

“That’s what the big decision is all about,” Gossett said.

In May, City Engineer Roger Strohm told the Board of Public Works that the current rates should be adequate to cover the cost, noting that one justification given by the Public Service Commission for the last water rate increase was the need to replace lead pipes.

A study showed that if the city were to offer a five-year special assessment program for homeowners to replace the pipes, it would tie up about $1.4 million during that time. For a three-year assessment, about $960,000 would be tied up.

Port Washington, like communities across the state and country, is required  by the Environmental Protection Agency and state Department of Natural Resources to replace lead lines in the streets.

Those agencies are also encouraging communities to remove as many private lead pipes as possible, citing the impact on public health.

Lead in pipes is a concern because it can leach into the water, which is then ingested by people. Even low levels of exposure  have been linked to damage to the central and peripheral nervous system, learning disabilities, shorter stature, impaired hearing and impaired formation and function of blood cells.

The city has been working for the past several years to identify which water pipes in the city are lead or galvanized steel, which need to be replaced, and which are not.

Of the 4,087 water services in Port, 641 are known or suspected to be lead or galvanized steel and would need to be replaced at a cost of $4.8 million.

The city has until 2037 to replace lead pipes in the street, which is its responsibility to finance.

The committee will probably consider the lead line replacement program again in August, with its recommendation heading to the Common Council in September, Gossett said, since it will be closer to budget time.

But the city should decide what it will do now so people have a chance to prepare, she said.

“We need to have a plan in place if people want to have it done and so they can get a plan for how to pay for it,” Gossett said.

“The bottom line is lead is bad.”