The Illinois Street project, which is scheduled to start construction work next month, will no longer have funding available for residents looking to replace galvanized pipes on their water-service lines.
Larry Gates, Prairie du Chien's utilities director, said the City was informed at the end of March that the funding wouldn't be available due to standards in place by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR).
The service lines attaching the City's water main to residences on Illinois Street are galvanized pipes (either steel or iron coated with zinc) connected by lead fittings called "goosenecks," according to Gates. Previously, the City was told that the presence of a lead gooseneck classified a water line as lead service because lead could flake off and get stuck in the galvanized pipes over time, causing health risks for people using the water system.
But the EPA has made a distinction that lines with lead components less than three feet long aren't considered a high priority.
"When I started [working on this project] five years ago, it was like, 'It doesn't matter; you have lead, so that's lead.' Now, the description the EPA is coming out with is that our situation is a low risk of corrosion compared to [pipes downstream] of an actual lead service," said Gates.
He added that in 27 years working for the Utilities Department in Prairie du Chien, he's never seen a gooseneck longer than three feet, and goosenecks installed during the same period of time (pre-1960) are usually between 12 and 24 inches long.
Information provided by Sophie Hammond, a lead and copper field specialist with the Department of Natural Resources, indicated that the "EPA does not classify galvanized service lines downstream of a gooseneck alone as requiring replacement and considers them lower risk of corrosion contributing to high lead levels compared to a galvanized service line that is or was downstream of an actual lead service line."
Gates emphasized that residents shouldn't worry about the lead goosenecks because the City is still going to replace them with a non-lead equivalent. "We're required to. If we do a project or have a water main break and we see [a lead gooseneck], we have to replace it. So, that will be taken care of no matter what."
The goosenecks are being replaced because the City is responsible for the line that comes from the water main to a point called a "curb stop" at each residence. A curb stop is an underground valve the city's water department can access, primarily to turn water service on and off. From the curb stop to the house, it’s the residents' responsibility to replace or have work done on their service line.
While the change to the EPA's funding has made managing the project more difficult, Gates said it doesn't affect the project's funding to complete the work on the city-owner portion of the water system.
The Illinois Street project is funded through a combination of a grant from the Community Development Block Grant program, principal forgiveness from the DNR's Safe Drinking Water Loan program, and a low-interest loan from the same program.
The project has a total cost of approximately $1.9 million, with around $1.3 million covered by the CDBG grant and principal forgiveness. Work will include upgrades to storm and sewer as well as a replacement of water service lines. This includes pipes going under the railroad on the east side of the street.
Funding for these types of replacements is done through the Lead Service Line Replacement (LSLR), which is managed through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund.
