Lowell residents to be notified of lead water lines

Assistant city manager Rich LaBombard holds up a visual aid to help residents understand the difference between plastic, copper, galvanized, and lead water service lines.

Justin Tiemeyer - Contributing Writer

4 Dec. 2024

At the Monday, November 4, 2024 meeting of Lowell’s city council, Assistant City Manager Rich LaBombard shared an update regarding lead service line material notification requirements. City residents whose water service lines include lead, galvanized, or unknown materials will soon begin receiving letters about the composition of their service lines.

While it may seem likely that regulations such as these stemmed from the Flint water crisis of 2014 through 2019, notifications like these have been mandated ever since the Michigan Safe Drinking Water Act of 1976 was passed. It was largely because of failure to meet the requirements of established law that Flint, and the State of Michigan by extension, faced such intense public scrutiny.

On Tuesday, October 15, 2024, the city submitted what is called a complete distribution service line material inventory, or CDSMI, in compliance with state and federal law, detailing the composition of the city’s 1349 water service lines. The city’s inventory currently includes 9 lead lines, 69 galvanized lines, 771 non-lead (copper or plastic) lines, and 545 lines using unknown service material.

Per Michigan law, owners and occupants must be notified within 30 days of determination, and LaBombard clarified that these letters will be sent out via US mail starting the week of Monday, November 11, 2024. Those whose service lines include lead, galvanized, or unknown materials will be notified with a statement of the line composition, explanation of the health effects of lead, steps to reduce exposure, information about replacement opportunities, and language encouraging home plumbing evaluations.

The city also expects to prepare training material for staff and the public, publish the water service line inventory on the city’s website, provide a link to frequently asked questions, develop a GIS map link to graphically depict water service line material, and create other visual aids for the public to understand the variety of material types in service.

LaBombard brought the already-prepared visual aid to the council meeting. It showed examples of plastic line (typically blue or black), copper (new or green with age), galvanized (similar to lead, only a magnet will stick to it), and lead.

“Generally, for the areas prone to lead service lines, it’s going to be the older part of town. Areas like Valley Vista probably don’t have a lot of lead,” LaBombard noted. Ralph Brecken, Lowell’s utilities supervisor, clarified that the highest density of lead, galvanized, and unknown lines is on the East side of town. “They really start frowning on it back in the 30s,” Brecken said, “but there was some leftover inventory. I think around the early 50s is when it was completely banned.”

In the 1970s, the City of Lowell separated its sewer and storm sewer systems, and at that time the majority of lead and galvanized lines within the street right of way were replaced by copper lines. What remains of lead, galvanized, and unknown lines stretches from the property line to the home, a portion of the system that is traditionally seen as the homeowner’s responsibility.

“We’re responsible for all of it,” said City Manager Mike Burns.

A 2018 update to the Michigan Safe Drinking Water Act required municipalities to remove all lead service lines in Michigan at a rate of five percent per year for 20 years, and that includes portions of the line that were formerly the sole responsibility of the homeowner.

“They provided $2 billion,” Burns said. “It’s not enough to help us with addressing it, so it’s borne on the rate payers unless we can get grant funding. I can tell you right now, we’re going to submit grants. They’re highly competitive, and the more depressed communities get them first, so just understand that.”

Brecken noted that the city is responsible for water lines on a homeowner’s property when there are lead or galvanized pipes involved. If a copper pipe on a homeowner’s property is damaged, and there is no related lead or galvanized pipe involved, the repair or replacement of the copper line remains the homeowner’s responsibility.

LaBombard expressed his interest in diving deeper into the lead line issue during a work session, and the council agreed to a tentative work session date of Monday, January 6, 2025, ahead of the first city council meeting of the year.

“Nobody’s going underground in the winter anyway,” said Mayor Mike DeVore ahead of concerns that the work session is expected to take place nearly two months after water customers receive their letters. In the meantime, the city’s staff will take questions and post answers via a Frequently Asked Questions section on the city’s website.