NORFOLK, Va. — The City of Norfolk is set to remove upwards of 800 service line pipes, as there is a nationwide effort to remove all lead pipes from all American cities within the next decade.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, all water systems, including public utilities, must prepare a service line inventory of both the public and customer-owned materials. This way, crews will be able to get rid of all lead pipes that have led to growing fears about the quality of drinking water.
"Those pipes could have been placed there yesterday, or over a hundred years ago," said Vicki Smith, the Water Quality Manager for the City of Norfolk. "Before this announcement, no one was monitoring these lines."
Smith said so far, the City of Norfolk has identified 71,000 service lines within the city limits and expects 14,000 have yet to be identified. Of those thousands of service lines, a little more than 800 have been identified as recommended for replacement.
Not all of the 800 lines are lead pipes, but some are. Over the years there have been fears that lead is leaking into the water people drink every day. Lead cannot be tasted as it dissolves into the water, but it can result in several serious health issues such as brain and kidney damage.
While Smith acknowledged there are some lead pipes within the Mermaid City, she said there is no public health threat to the public and there is no evidence that any lead is leaking into our water supply.
"We test our water every single day, multiple times a day," said Smith. "It's called a Corrosion Control Treatment that we put in and that protects between the service line and the water, and so the water that leaves the plant does not have any lead in it at all."
Instead, Smith is asking all Norfolk residents to help them identify the rest of the service lines in the city limits. This can be done by residents who can self-report by letting the City know what kind of material their service line is made of.
This can include plastic, copper, lead, brass, or more.
Residents can check to see if their service line has already been examined by going to the City of Norfolk's interactive map. If a person does not see any indication, they should self-report the materials their service line is using.
Smith said the entire project of identifying and removing all of the impacted pipes could take several years, up to 2037. She said the project is also expected to cost millions of dollars.
Already more than $26 million has been set aside for the project, but estimations could rise to $80 million or more just for the City of Norfolk.
"There will probably be some construction for this in the future, but it will be unavoidable as every single city will have to go through the same process," said Smith. "We'll need everyone to self-report and help us as much as they can in order to get the process going as smoothly as it can."
Norfolk isn't the only city identifying and replacing lead pipes. Newport News announced Thursday their lead service line website is going live.