Moline is embarking on a ten-year program to replace every lead and galvanized pipe in the city.
Utilities Director Laura Williamson says the program follows the state's 2021 legislation that mandates that every municipality replace its pipes within 15 to 24 years, depending on the number of impacted lines. There are at least 686,000 impacted pipes in the state.
Williamson says the city inventoried 4,900 lead and galvanized pipes. She says the first phase of the program will include 400 properties in the vicinity of 4th Street and 16th Avenue.
“We had a place to start, and we based it on census tracts as prescribed by our loan program. We are participating in a loan program with the IEPA. It's a 40-year payback for our loan,” Williamson said in an interview. “So with that, there are stipulations for that grant, and that would ask us to concentrate in certain census tracts, and to take advantage of that low-interest loan or zero-interest loan money.”
The first phase of the program will cost $3,650,675. The program is funded in part by an $8 million grant from the Illinois EPA. That includes a $4.9 million forgivable loan, and the remaining $3 million is at 0% interest and repayable over 40 years. She said Illinois Congressman Eric Sorensen (D-17th) helped the city secure a $500,000 grant, with the city matching $125,000 toward the program. Williamson said the city council will award the $625,000 US EPA Community Grant in early March. The 2nd phase will be going out to bid soon.
“This is a program for compliance with the Illinois Lead Service Line Replacement Program as stipulated by the IEPA and the US EPA. And certainly, we want to encourage everybody to take advantage of this,” Williamson said. “The city council has made an investment in the community, and is covering the cost. There are some communities that are not doing that. You might have to pay for a portion of it or all of it. And in the case of the city of Moline, our city council said no, ‘we're going to invest in our community and ensure everybody has safe, clean drinking water.’ If you have an opportunity, please participate in this and get signed up so that we can get the work done.”
The average cost of replacing lead and galvanized pipes is $11,000 for homeowners. Williamson said the city has sent 74 letters to property owners notifying them of the opportunity. Miller Trucking and Excavating in Silvis was chosen out of two contractors in the city’s request for proposals.
Williamson said residents can respond via letter, sign up online via the QR code on the letter, or call 309-524-2300, the main water utility line. The letter asks residents to agree to allow the contractor to conduct work on their property and, if necessary, enter the home.
“We're hoping to do a directional bore, which means we would go underground. However, there may be times, depending on what we find at the site, we may have to be digging things up,” Williamson said. “They're going to have to make some holes in the yard to put the equipment through. To do the directional bore, we will need to get into the house to make the connection within the house.
“And in some Instances, it may just be that we're replacing a lead service that's in the public right-of-way area. So it would be between the street and, if you will, where a sidewalk would be, because some residents may have already replaced their lateral lines, or when the house was built, they installed a copper service line. So we do have some instances where we would only need to replace that portion of the lateral line that's within the public right-of-way. And in many instances, we're replacing the entire line from the main all the way into the house.”
The deadline to respond is March 18th. Work is expected to start this spring.
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