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Director of Infrastructure and Asset Management responding to #209476 re: elevated levels of lead in the city's water.
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Official Text
To the Honorable City Council:
To aid in the discussion of communications regarding lead in drinking water associated with Item ID 22363 and in advance of the City Council’s 23 January 2020 meeting, please accept the information below and attached.
As the Council knows, after a long time in the planning phase, IAM - Engineering will begin construction efforts to replace known lead service connections from the City’s water mains to the water meters inside private properties. To raise awareness of the program, Engineering developed the website: <https://www.somervillema.gov/departments/programs/lead-service-line-replacement-program> and the attached brochure, and has coordinated with Health & Human Services for outreach overlap with the lead paint program. Engineering has engaged in public outreach through media channels, resulting in local articles (e.g. <https://somerville.wickedlocal.com/news/20191017/got-lead-somerville-city-will-replace-those-pipes?fbclid=IwAR0Updks1r-LQXFTn97w0tSoU6gGs97kiMl5zwNeR6gum4qFIyzv1lReW70>) and video postings (<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wtOkYcFXIY>) Engineering has also engaged in active outreach to the 449 properties with known lead services, first with direct mailing (postcard attached) and then with cold calls to those properties. As a result of those efforts, the first year of construction has been fully subscribed, and we are currently in the bidding process to procure a contractor to complete the work in CY2020. For additional information on the program, you can contact Haleemah Qureshi, Engineering’s project manager.
Lead service connections, given their locations within the right-of-way, are a source of lead in water that the City can remediate, hence the focus of IAM - Engineering on them. A primary source of lead in water is from internal plumbing in buildings, which given their location within private property, are outside of the City’s direct control, and unlike water services are not the subject of MWRA funding assistance. Lead is not used in water main construction; therefore, the City’s water mains are generally not a source of lead in water. It should be noted that IAM - Engineering and the Water Department have worked closely throughout the development of the lead service replacement program and will continue to coordinate as we enter the construction phase.
In their role as operators of the water distribution system, the Water Department is under regulatory requirements to monitor lead levels within the system. As the Council knows, that monitoring triggered recent notifications approved by MassDEP and consistent with MWRA guidelines. For specifics on that program I would defer to Director DeLuca who has communicated to the Council separately and will be present at the Council’s Thursday meeting to discuss.
Regards,
Richard E. Raiche, PE, PMP
Director of Infrastructure and Asset Management