EAGLE LAKE — The City of Eagle Lake hosted a town hall meeting on June 6 at the Eagle Lake Community Center. Up for discussion was the federally mandated replacement of lead and galvanized pipes on city service lines. Dyer Schitzkus, LCRR/I program director, was the main speaker.
The presentation was laid out to the attending public and open for questions. The program to replace the lead and galvanized piping by 2027 or face a massive growth in efforts and costs after 2027.
Since the replacement project is an unfunded federal mandate by the present government and the EPA, the costs associated with it will be borne by the city and potentially the residents whose pipes need to be replaced from the meter to the point of entry into the resident or structure.
Notices were sent out to the people potentially affected by this in November. According to some people in the meeting, the notices needed more information and clarity about customer costs, how the customer would replace their water lines with PVC or PEX and who would pay for it.
The city, trying to get ahead of the deadline for the 2037 replacement completion, encouraged residents to take the initiative and get this done before the 2027 Eagle Lake’s Replacements Completed Goal schedule.
It was explained that supplies will start to become scarce as all cities are required to change out all lead-based pipes or face significant fines.
The federal rule goes into effect in 2027 and is required before 2037. In 2027, there will be more costs and regulatory hoops to go through with costs averaging $1,300 to $2,500 per year on top of the replacement costs.
The spirited debate centered around the exact timing for customers to complete their part if the government doesn’t change the completion date and who is ultimately responsible for the costs that the customer would bear if unable to do it themselves or lacking the funds to pay plumbers to install the new pipe at their location.
In the end, Eagle Lake City Manager Tink Jackson and Mayor Tim Kelley assured the attendees that the city would work with individuals to help complete their tasks. A page dedicated to questions and answers about the replacement project would be put up on the city website to help keep down any more confusion.
The city has 500 identified service lines and over 300 unknown service lines (those lines not known if it is leadbased pipes) that need to be checked and completed before the deadlines.
