The City of Rochester has a renewed effort to find out where water pipes with lead in them are located, in an effort to replace those lines.
The city this week launched a campaign called Get the Lead Out, asking Rochester residents to help officials identify water service lines that may contain lead.
Lead poisoning can cause serious health problems in children, and the city’s Chief of Water Quality Operations, Dave Rowley, said that even though lead paint is a bigger problem, it’s still important to track down lead water lines as well.
He said that the city has established a campaign to enlist tenants and homeowners to report situations where there may be lead service lines inside their homes.
“The problem we have is that some of the services lines on private property, that portion after the shut off after where the sidewalk is, that go into homes; we don’t have very good records on a lot of those,” said Rowley.
City officials said there is currently an estimated 21,763 outside water lines, and 4,500 inside lines (on private property) potentially in need of eventual replacement. Officials said that 60% of those lines are in disadvantaged neighborhoods.
The City has information on its website on how residents can identify water lines that may contain lead and report that to City Hall. Rochester has already allocated more than $43 million to replace lead water lines. Much of that funding came from the federal government through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
Mayor Malik Evans said the once a resident has identified and reported their water service line, they should "lend a hand to a neighbor, family member, or friend that might need help to do the same.”
Evans said this process “won’t get done overnight” but he said everyone can work together to ensure that every resident has access to clean, safe drinking water.
