'Our children are at risk every day that we delay' | DC Council weighs bills to mandate removal of lead pipes

WASHINGTON — For decades, public health experts have been warning about the dangers of lead pipes. Even small doses can cause behavioral problems or lower IQ in children.

Despite this known risk, lead pipes remain a major problem nationwide, including across the DMV. In the district alone, there are roughly 42,000 lead service lines, according DC Water. 

To address this problem, members of the DC Council proposed a pair of bills, which would mandate their removal by 2030. The bills were discussed at a public hearing Thursday in front of the Committee on Transportation and The Environment. 

"Our children are at risk every day that we delay," said Councilmember Janeese Lewis George at the hearing. "We must be more aggressive about ridding our city of this vile toxin." 

The two bills, which would eventually be consolidated into one bill, would allow homeowners to join a program, offering the removal free-of-charge. The bills would also propose a fine, for homeowners that fail to make these changes by the summer of 2025. 

The bills would also require DC Water to "create and maintain" an inventory of all service lines, so they can identify 'those that are or could be lead service lines.' 

DC Water has created an interactive map, so homeowners can check on whether they have lead in their pipes. 

Service lines are the pipes that connect the water main in the middle of the street to homes. They travel between public property and private property, and occassionaly are made of lead. 

DC Water has already replaced 4,287 lead service lines in their effort to remove all lead from the system.

Creating a thorough inventory and replacing all of these lead service lines would take a lot of money. In March, 2022, WUSA9 shadowed a DC Water crew, as they replaced a pipe in Northeast, D.C. At the time they estimated that it costs approximately $10,000 to $15,000 to replace one service line. 

Just last week, DC Water announced that the cost estimates for removing all service lines in the city had jumped significantly. 

"From $629 million to roughly $1.5 billion," said David Gadis, the CEO and General Manager for DC Water. 

In their recent report, DC Water wrote that the cost increases were due to "a higher number of lead service lines" as well as other factors like "reassessed construction and restoration costs" due to inflation.

"A funding commitment is urgently needed," said Gadis. "To ensure that financial burden of the project is not directly passed to the customers through rate increases."

Some who testified at the public hearing questioned why the DC Water estimates were so high, calling for greater oversight, to keep costs down. 

"They've increased their budget estimates dramatically twice," said Randy Speck, who was on the Lead Service Line Planning Task Force. "And the most recent estimate is way beyond anything they've suggested previously." 

These bills also include a section on job creation. It would call for the training of 50 D.C. residents per training cycle in the process of service line replacements. 

For more information on lead pipes in Maryland and Virginia, visit this story.