Up to 17% of Cedar Rapids water service lines could contain lead

Cedar Rapids city officials have identified over 9,000 water service lines — primarily in the city’s oldest neighborhoods — that might or do contain lead.

That is about 17 percent of the total number of service lines in the city. These lines connect large water mains to homes and businesses.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is requiring public water systems to compile lists of their service lines that might contain lead, a neurotoxin especially dangerous to young children. The lists are due next week.

Lead has caused public health crises elsewhere, notably in Flint, Mich., which mismanaged its water supply a decade ago and allowed lead from its service lines to leach into drinking water.

That is not a concern in Cedar Rapids, said Dave Wallace, the city's utilities engineering manager, because of a corrosion control program that's been in place for more than three decades.

"Our water is safe," Wallace said Tuesday at a City Council meeting. "We exceed the thresholds that EPA sets for safe drinking water."

The city adds minerals to its treated drinking water to create a barrier that inhibits lead leaching, he said. It further tests the water at more than 50 locations throughout the system each year.

"We know what's going out, what's in our system," Wallace said.

The city's water department provides drinking water for about 142,000 people, according to Iowa Department of Natural Resources data.

There are an estimated 54,000 service lines in the city. Of those, about 7,600 might be made of lead, about 50 are verified to have lead and about 1,600 are made of galvanized iron, which can release lead.

A map that depicts their locations is available on the city's website.

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Biden sets a 10-year deadline for U.S. cities to replace lead pipes

The EPA announced Tuesday a requirement for public water supplies to replace the lead pipes “under their control” within 10 years. Cedar Rapids typically owns the service line between the large water mains and a valve that shuts off water to a house.

The EPA estimates the replacements will have an average cost of about $5,000 per line but can exceed $10,000. The agency announced $37 million of new funding to help pay for replacements, but it has also estimated that the total cost will be tens of billions of dollars.

"This will be probably the most significant issue, one of the most significant ones that we will have to deal with as a city in the future," said council member Dale Todd.

Brandon Jennings, a city utilities engineer, said the true number of lead-containing pipes is difficult to ascertain because they are underground. The estimates mostly are based on observations during construction and maintenance, and on the age of homes.

Homeowners own the rest of the pipes from the shut-off valve into the home. Generally, Jennings said, houses in the city built after 1950 don't have lead lines. Cedar Rapids banned them in 1971.

The city encourages residents and business owners to examine their water lines where they enter buildings and report what they find to an online survey. They are typically made of lead, galvanized iron or copper.

Scratching a copper pipe can reveal a shiny bronze color. Magnets are attracted to iron but not to lead.

Those who have lead pipes might not be able to afford the cost of replacing them, though the EPA rule announced Tuesday does not mandate that they have to.

"This is a very sensitive issue simply because a lot of places where we know that we will need to replace pipes, they simply don't have the means to do it," Todd said.

Public water supplies in Iowa are required to submit their reports about lead service lines to the Iowa DNR next week. They must send notifications to customers who might have lead lines.

Comments: (319) 368-8541; jared.strong@thegazette.com