The Lansing Board of Water & Light (BWL) will replace its last active lead service line on Wednesday, December 14. The project began in 2004 and removed 12,150 active lead service lines at a cost of $44.5 million. BWL will join Madison, Wisconsin as the only two water utilities in the nation that have removed all lead service lines.
When the Flint water crisis put the spotlight on BWL’s lead service line replacement project earlier this year, the BWL was near completion of the project that began in 2004. At that time, the BWL Board of Commissioners accepted a recommendation to replace all lead service lines made by a community task force headed by then-State Senator Virg Bernero, who currently serves as mayor of Lansing.
The BWL helped train Flint contractor crews on its trenchless method of replacing lead service lines and provided technical support to the City of Flint as it began replacing lead service lines. In addition, the BWL hosted 20 water utilities from across the country who visited Lansing this year to learn about BWL’s lead service line replacement project.
The water distributed from the BWL’s two water conditioning plants meets or exceeds all measures of drinking water quality under the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act, the State of Michigan Safe Drinking Water Act (PA 399) and other conditions defined by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
BWL water has no detectable lead when it leaves its two water conditioning plants and there are no lead mains in its 800 mile distribution system. Although the BWL has removed all active lead service lines serving its 55,000 residential and commercial water customers, the BWL will continue to use a phosphate anti-corrosion compound to coat water pipes and prevent leaching of lead and copper into drinking water where lead may still be present in home plumbing fixtures, in older copper plumbing with lead solder and some older brass fixtures that contain lead. The BWL’s corrosion control additive is designed to minimize lead exposure from the plumbing inside a home or other buildings.
