Alderman questions city's lead pipe replacement estimate

The head of the city's Water Quality Task Force is questioning Milwaukee's cost estimates for replacing lead pipes.

"The administration's figure is considerably too high," Ald. Jim Bohl said at a Friday task force meeting. "I've been saying that over and over again."

Bohl's comments came during a discussion about the costs for replacing lead service lines in places like Madison and Lansing, Mich. When work first started in Lansing, for example, the cost was about $9,000 per line. But it dropped to $3,600 per line as work continued, said Tea Norfolk of the Legislative Reference Bureau.

A new Milwaukee ordinance, signed last month by Mayor Tom Barrett, required the replacement of lead laterals in an emergency failure or leak, or during water main construction projects when the publicly owned lead pipe section is taken out and substituted with copper or other non-lead pipes.

In those cases, Milwaukee Water Works would pay 100% of the cost for the public utility side and the city would also cover two-thirds of the cost of replacing privately owned laterals. It capped costs for a homeowner at $1,600, but the city projected costs for each line to be as high as $9,000.

Bohl said Friday that he thinks lead pipe replacements could be much cheaper for homeowners and the city alike, especially when an entire block is being done at once.

"It just shows you that the economy of scale is significant," he said.

The city's 2017 budget for lead lateral replacements begins an effort that could take several decades to complete by funding up to 700 full lead lateral replacements out of the known 68,300 residential lead pipes that pose a health risk to the public. There are some 300 lead service line leaks in Milwaukee each year, and those leaks would be covered in the 2017 plan, city officials said.

Milwaukee will also start in spring replacing lead service lines with copper at some 385 licensed child care centers.

Bohl said he believes the 2017 costs will be "significantly higher" in those cases because they will be isolated replacements.

"Until we get to a point where we are proactively addressing various blocks — block at a time, block at a time — we really won't have a real indication of our long-term costs," he said. "My hope is is that — at least from the few communities who tackled this on a real concentrated basis — we certainly are trying to fine tune our efforts to drive down costs, not only for taxpayers, but also because we are envisioning a plan that will passed as a cost-share, for residents and property owners as well."

Ghassan Korban, commissioner of the Department of Public Works, said he hopes the costs will drop like in Lansing and Madison.

"We're hoping to experience the same," Korban said. "Our initial experience with cost is showing us much higher costs."

On Tuesday, the Common Council is expected to vote on another measure related to lead pipes. The resolution would require public charter schools approved by the City of Milwaukee to test all of their drinking fountains and faucets annually.

It was passed last week by a Common Council committee.

Bohl and Ald. Jose Perez are working on another proposal to push the state to require annual lead testing for all day care centers and schools in Wisconsin.

Perez, the lead sponsor, said the plan is being drafted.

"Basically, we're just going to lobby the state to make it mandatory for everyone to do testing on their establishments," Perez said.