What: Inventory of lead and copper water service lines.
Where it stands: The bid was awarded to 120 Water for $445,580.80 on the consent agenda of September 22.
Next: Work under the contract; the baseline inventory is due to the state by November 1, 2027, and the new connector classification adds work (see the October 8 committee meeting).
City utilities staff briefed the committee on an August state seminar update to the lead and copper rule. The baseline inventory is due November 1, 2027. The contractor awarded the inventory work will identify about 6,000 remaining service lines, many under sidewalks and parking lots at commercial connections, out of roughly 19,000 connections.
The rule now requires the connector (the short pipe, often a lead goose neck, between the water main and the service line) to be classified as lead, unknown, non-lead or no connector present. Connectors that stay classified unknown are expected to need replacement within a set period, which the state has not yet published. Staff said a test method that tracks an electric signal to the main was not approved and did not work with the meter setters used locally, so they expect to rely on spot digging and predictive modeling by period, builder and subdivision. Staff said the City applied for state grant money and was turned down for not meeting the criteria, and called the rule an unfunded mandate.