Wichita wrapping up project to replace lead water pipes

The city of Wichita is finishing a decade-long project this year to remove all lead service pipes from water mains to water meters on properties.

There are about 150 lead service pipes left in the replacement program, said Alan King, public works director. They should all be replaced by the end of 2016.

The city estimates there were originally up to 1,500 lead service pipes and they’ve been replacing between 150 and 200 a year for more than 10 years.

It costs up to $1,200 to replace each of the service pipes with copper or plastic, King said.

Health effects

Lead service pipes were primarily in older parts of Wichita, King said. And many of those older homes still have lead plumbing inside.

Recent events in Flint, Mich., have led to increased questions about the public water supply throughout the United States. Flint was found to have high levels of lead in its water supply, and officials have come under scrutiny for not doing enough to protect residents.

In the past, people thought it was OK to have lead pipes, but lead has since been proven to have health effects, particularly on young children.

According to the National Institutes of Health, symptoms of lead poisoning, which usually occur slowly over time, include abdominal pain, aggression, anemia, constipation, headaches, difficulty sleeping, hearing loss, low appetite and loss of developmental skills in young children.

Lead poisoning is more harmful to children than adults. At least 4 million households in the U.S. have children that are being exposed to high levels of lead, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Lead contamination is typically invisible. Trace amounts occur naturally in water.

“You won’t be able to see it or taste it,” King said.

Chemical barrier

Most lead water contamination occurs in the plumbing, faucets and fixtures on private property and inside houses, King said.

But the city is responsible for the lead levels at the point of use, King said.

To help combat lead contamination that may occur in a house’s plumbing, the city does two things.

The first deals with water treatment.

When water is treated at city plants, the city leaves some calcium and lime in it. That allows a thin film of protection to form inside the surfaces of pipes.

“It makes the water less corrosive to lead so it doesn’t create a reaction,” King said. “It acts like a chemical barrier.”

The calcium and lime do not affect health, King said.

“Even in these homes with the lead in them, the water treatment – the chemistry and fine film – seem to do a good job keeping water safe,” King said.

The city also does free tests from faucets for people who have concerns about lead levels in their drinking water.

City employees can come take a water sample for you or you can request a container to ship water back to the city for testing in the city’s laboratory.

In order to determine which service pipes were replaced first, King said the city looked at the amount of water sold at each property.

“Lower water sales means water is not moving as fast and flushing out lead contamination. It kind of lays in there and has longer contact with the lead surface,” he said.

Water meters

The city is also in the last year of replacing about 145,000 water meters. The new meters are more accurate and have automatic reading devices that can be read using a radio transceiver to city vans instead of checking them by foot.

Customers can request free hour-by-hour readings for the past 40 days to help determine whether they have any water leaks.

This story was originally published March 29, 2016 at 6:48 PM with the headline "Wichita wrapping up project to replace lead water pipes."