Elgin residents who need to replace the lead pipes bringing water to their homes will have three options under an ordinance to be approved Dec. 19 by the City Council.
Council members Wednesday hashed out final details of the policy, which would go into place in January in advance of spring construction season.
The first option would allow homeowners and apartment building owners to hire their own plumber to do the work, replacing the line that runs from their home to the box that connects to the city’s water supply.
The repayment plan would be $80 a month for five years, plus a one-time $50 service fee.
Under the third option, if pipes were disturbed by city construction work, residential property owners could opt out of replacing their lead lines as long as they agree to use water filters and filtered pitchers provided by the city or buy their own bottled water for two years.
After hearing from family physician Dr. Dorothea Poulos, who chairs the city’s health board, council members decided to add a proviso that those opting out of replacing their lead lines would have to pay for an initial test for lead levels in their water and for four more tests over the course of two years.
The $1,000 total cost of testing would be added to water bills.
The pipeline ordinance would apply to homes in neighborhoods in which the city is doing infrastructure projects in which lead pipes are being replaced.
It’s estimated there are more than 11,000 homes throughout the city that have lead service lines on their property and another 7,600 homes that could have them given the time they were built or the type of work homeowners may have done, according to Weiss.
The city halted the three projects this spring in light of the state health department’s position that replacement of public lead service lines could disturb any lead in the residential pipes to which they connect.