By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The great lead pipe search of 2024 will begin in the near future. 

As part of a new state and federal mandate, municipalities from across the state will need to take an inventory of their water lines to see how many lead and galvanized pipes remain in use today. The need to search for lead pipes comes after a recent change to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR) and requires city staff or employees to go door-to-door to inspect the water pipe that goes into a house or property. 

“The object is to get all of the lead out of the system,” said Utility Supervisor Ted Strand. “I think we are pretty good in the city because we have done a lot of it in the past, but that is why we have to do this survey.”

In order to find a lead water pipe, city staff or another company it hires, will need to go door-to-door to quickly inspect the water pipes in a home or business. The search takes just a few minutes at each location, but must be done in person. That task can be a bit cumbersome for some small cities like Henning, Deer Creek and Ottertail who have a limited amount of staff to complete the tasks, in addition to their normal day-to-day operations. 

“They go door-to-door and ask permission to go in a home,” said Strand. “The biggest thing is some people don’t want people in their houses.”

The deadline to complete the work and submit the findings to the state is later this year, but representatives from Apex Engineering are gearing up from the green light from the state to begin searching for lead pipes in Henning. The initial report to complete the survey came out in 2022, but it wasn’t until 2023 that the Minnesota Department of Health started the wheels in motion for public works directors across the state. 

Due to a number of upgrades to the city’s water system over the years, Strand doesn’t think there will be very many, if any, lead water pipes located in the city limits. However, the city still needs to go door-to-door to create an in-depth map of all of the water service lines in the city limits. 

“I don’t think there are a lot of them anymore,” he said. 

While nothing has been finalized, Strand said it is likely there will be funding available in the future to replace the lead pipes should some be located in the city limits. 

In addition to searching for lead pipes, Strand said the city is also collecting an inventory of the age of water meters for future planning. Water meters need to be replaced on occasion, and having a better idea of the age and condition of each water meter, will help the city plan for future projects.

“While we are looking at it we are going to look at the age of the water meter as well,” he said.

Strand said if residents have a question about a person coming to their door to look at their water meter they can contact the city office. He said employees of Apex Engineering will identify themselves at the door and will explain why they need to look at the water meter and pipe before coming into a home. He said the entire process should take just a few minutes. 

The city is currently waiting on the Minnesota Department of Health and the contracts, before actually conducting the search for lead pipes in the city limits. As soon as the state contracts are approved and the Minnesota Department of Health makes its final determination, the city will begin conducting the search for lead pipes with the assistance of its engineering firm. 

Deer Creek

In Deer Creek, the process has just begun. Dan Kovar, Water/Sewer Operator, said that they are currently in the process of reviewing the information that they have already, including the ages of many buildings in town.

“We can kind of go by age on some of the houses and eliminate the issue by when they were built,” said Kovar. “Then the rest, we’re going to have to do notifications to the homeowners and in-house inspections.”

With a smaller customer base than NY Mills’ water system, Deer Creek did not feel the need to apply for grant funding right away to complete the inventory. They will complete the inventory and review their findings before applying for any grants.

“The city didn’t feel they needed the money to do the inventory, they will just seek help if they need to do replacement of any services,” said Kovar. “Then we’re going to apply after that.”

As the only public works employee, Kovar will be working hard to complete the inventory in the coming months. He said that he is happy to answer questions and try to further inform the public on the process. Kovar can be reached by phone at (218) 639-7681 or by email at citydc.util@gmail.com

“If they have questions, they can definitely give me a call,” said Kovar. “They can definitely give me a call and I can help them through the process of checking and answering questions.”

Editor’s note: New York Mills Dispatch Reporter Tucker Henderson contributed to this article.