Crews dispatched across Pittsburgh will replace up to 1,500 water service lines by July 1, swapping out old connection pipes that could cause lead contamination.
The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority board hired two companies Friday to complete much of that work, the first major line-replacement contracts since the state required PWSA last year to reduce lead lines. Arrangements with Frank J. Zottola Construction of Butler and Independent Enterprises of Oakdale could compensate the low bidders as much as $1.59 million and $1.94 million, respectively.
“Our intent is to rotate [the work] around so that we’re not focused in any one neighborhood area or any one district in the city,” said Robert Weimar, the PWSA engineering director.
He said workers will prioritize service line replacements at homes where voluntary water tests have shown high lead levels, although PWSA has not decided which properties will go first. Priority also will go to properties where ongoing inspections reveal service lines with at least some lead, according to the authority.
Customers can request free water test kits from PWSA by sending an email to servicelines@pgh2o.com or by calling 412-255-2423 between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. weekdays. The authority plans to give 45-day notice to property owners before replacing service lines, a roughly daylong project for each property.
PWSA cautioned that the work will target only the public portions of affected service lines, which serve as a connection between a water main and a building’s own plumbing. A service line runs perpendicular to the street and is split into two pieces: the PWSA-maintained section, known as the public portion, and the private section that runs from the the property line into the building.
Law prevents PWSA from working on the private section, according to the authority. When crews open a sidewalk to replace a public portion, PWSA will give property owners a chance to replace any lead components in the private section, too.
“Anything we can do to try to avoid an inefficient process would be helpful,” said Alex W. Thomson, the PWSA board chairman. Mr. Weimar said replacing a private section often runs homeowners $2,000 to $3,000. PWSA pays for the public portions.
State environmental authorities ordered last summer that the authority start to inventory and replace its lead service lines after tests found elevated levels of the metal in some homes. Under a state mandate, PWSA must replace at least 7 percent of its lead service lines each year.
The replacements are mandatory until compliance tests show a sustained reduction in lead levels. Adjusting water additives that control corrosion should foster that decline, according to PWSA, which handles the chemicals.
In the meantime, an estimated 20 percent to 25 percent of 85,000 PWSA service connections contain lead, Mr. Weimar said. Board member Deborah Gross, a Pittsburgh City Council member, said officials should look at financing effective lead filters for people at high risk.
She said filter prices can range from $30 to more than $100.
“Every child under 6 should have no lead exposure,” Ms. Gross said. “And if we don’t know whether they have lead in their home, we need to find out and help with filtration.”
Adam Smeltz: 412-263-2625, asmeltz@post-gazette.com, @asmeltz.
First Published: January 28, 2017, 5:00 a.m.
