Spurred by Flint disaster, Eau Claire aims to eliminate lead pipelines

Lane Berg, Eau Claire utilities manager; Montana Birt of Montana and Son Grading; and Seth Smiskey, a utilities supervisor for the city, demonstrate the replacement of a lead service line June 29 in Eau Claire. (Madeline Fuerstenberg / Wisconsin Watch)

By MADELINE FUERSTENBERG
Wisconsin Watch and WPR

In 2016, then-President Barack Obama declared a federal emergency in Flint, Michigan, after a botched drinking water switch tainted the city’s water supply and spiked lead-poisoning rates among children.

The city of Eau Claire received its first state grant to replace an estimated 1,266 residential lead service lines only a year later. The city has replaced about 400 lead service lines with those made of copper or plastic, and more are soon slated for swapping.

“We want every lead service line out of our system,” Lane Berg, Eau Claire utilities manager, said while giving a reporter an up-close look at a replacement job. “So, we’ve set a goal: By the end of 2023, we want to have all the lead out.”

In meeting that goal, Eau Claire would join Madison and Green Bay on a list of Wisconsin cities that have rid their water systems of lead-service lines, which typically consist of both utility-owned and privately owned sections.

Since 2016, Wisconsin communities have replaced more than 115,000 utility-side and private-side portions of pipelines made of lead, galvanized steel that may contain lead flake buildup — or other materials that might contain lead, state Public Service Commission data show. That’s about 20% of Wisconsin’s known pipelines made of those materials.

Flint’s water crisis was a “driving force” behind Eau Claire’s removal efforts — even though Eau Claire’s drinking water system did not face the conditions that triggered the Flint disaster, Berg said.

In Flint, state officials in 2014 approved a drinking water switch from Detroit’s water to the Flint River. But the state failed to require treatment to control corrosion of aging lead pipelines. Highly corrosive river water caused lead to leach into drinking water.

Eau Claire’s water is far less corrosive, Berg said, and a lime additive coats the inside of the city’s pipelines, further minimizing lead risks. Just 11 Eau Claire County children were found to be poisoned by lead in 2020, or 1.4% of those tested. That was lower than the state average of 3.4%.

Still, eliminating lead pipelines would go further to minimize health risks.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has granted Eau Claire $1.6 million in recent years to do just that, and Berg anticipates receiving additional funding, although nothing is guaranteed.

“Teaming up with the DNR put lead service replacements on a much higher priority,” Berg said. “We are so thankful for the grant money.”

Although some residents might want to avoid digging and disruption that comes with a pipeline replacement, Berg said city workers have found success by spending hours canvassing neighborhoods — encouraging residents to schedule service line inspections— and tracking their progress. Seth Smiskey, a utility supervisor for the city, is one of those workers.

“It’s going really well,” Smiskey said. “Neighbors talk, so that helps out a lot.

After inspections were conducted at roughly 20% of the houses of a neighborhood one week, appointments typically started trickling in over the next two or three weeks, Smiskey said.

A city ordinance requires service-line replacement when a lead pipeline is found. Smiskey leaves for homeowners a letter that mentions the requirement and encourages them to “take advantage of our program now while we still have grant money to replace your lead service.”

Residents may apply to the city’s Lead Service Line Replacement Program for funding. Once approved, a local contractor from a pre-selected list will be contacted to do the replacement. Each job takes a few hours to complete, with digging typically limited to a small hole between the street curb and sidewalk. The city pays the contractor up to $2,600. Any additional cost falls to the property owner.

Service-line replacements can cost anywhere from $1,200 to $12,300 per line, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. But participants in the Eau Claire program typically pay nothing, Berg said.

“The biggest thing I see on the program — the improvement — is when the city started reimbursing the contractor directly,” Montana Birt, of Montana and Son Grading, told Wisconsin Watch as his colleagues replaced a service line at the home of the Eau Claire resident
Sally Grundman. “That way it takes all the burden off of the homeowner.”

Grundman said she was happy to take advantage of the program and was “very much” satisfied with the contractor’s work.

“At some point, Eau Claire will probably have everybody doing (replacements),” Grundman said. “And then the money won’t be there. So it’s good we did it when we did.”