One Utility's Approach To Lead: Tear Out Every Pipe

When it comes to ensuring safe drinking water, is tearing out every lead pipe too extreme of a solution?

Officials in Madison, WI, tried this approach and the example may hold lessons for cities debating their own lead policies in the aftermath of Flint’s contamination crisis.

“Radical though it was, what occurred from 2001 to 2011 in [Madison, the capital] could help guide cities across the country as they consider taking action to protect public health. The extreme, months-long leaching of lead into Flint’s water supply has highlighted the danger of the estimated 6 million or more lead pipes that remain in use nationwide — by more than 11,000 community water systems that serve as many as 22 million Americans,” The Washington Post reported.

Madison officials found high lead levels in the drinking water over a decade ago, according to The Post. The lead level was 16 ppb. The federal limit for lead is 15 ppb, according to the U.S. EPA.

“Madison’s response was like hitting a gnat with a sledgehammer. It was so aggressive that only one other major municipality in the United States has followed its approach so far. It’s also why some people now call Madison the anti-Flint, a place where water problems linked to the toxic substance simply couldn’t happen today,” the report said.

When high lead levels were spotted in Madison, federal regulators recommended that the city treat its pipes with phosphates to decrease corrosion.

But Madison tried a more comprehensive, more expensive solution, shelling out almost $20 million.

“The [utility] ripped out every lead line it owned. Then it made some 5,500 of its customers do the same,” the report said. Residents and business in Madison paid to replace 8,000 lead pipes, according to the report.

The downside of this approach?

“Dozens of streets were torn up for a decade of digging and copper-pipe replacement at a cost of nearly $20 million,” the report said. The process was “noisy, messy and disruptive.”

The upside is that Madison no longer struggles with high lead levels. The highest lead measure since 2011 has been “3.5 parts per billion, which is so low that the EPA requires the utility to collect water samples every three years instead of annually.”

Joe Grande, the water quality manager at the utility, explained the city’s motivations succinctly: “The safe level of lead is zero.”

Lansing, MI, appears to be the only other city that has taken this approach, according to The Capital Times.

“The city is about to finish removing 14,500 lead pipes, a 10-year project that costs about $40 million,” the report said.

To read of our coverage on lead contamination visit Water Online’s Drinking Water Contaminant Removal Solutions Center.