Hundreds of miles of water lines must be replaced in Johnstown, according to officials with the Greater Johnstown Water Authority.
In October, the Environmental Protection Agency issued an 890-page rule requiring all lead to be removed from water systems, including city-owned pipes and ones that belong to residents.
Throughout this month, officials with the Greater Johnstown Water Authority say they’ve been sending letters to residents regarding the lead status of their water lines. They said they’re estimating that 12 thousand service lines on the resident side contain lead.
The explained that the way that the EPA wrote the lead pipe replacement rule, the water authority is responsible for all the costs to replace the water lines, which are over 100 years old. They also said that while the water authority is funded by taxpayer dollars, the first few years of the replacement project will be covered by money that the authority already has set aside.
At Tuesday’s meeting, they agreed to a multi million dollar contract with in house employees that will work to replace the lines over the next 10 years.
“By doing it with in house employees, we avoid a bunch of rules that are required for bid contracts. We don’t have to bid the contract if it’s done through in-house people.”
“It goes to the bottom line that we’re saving money for the residents,”
The next water authority meeting will be held on December 12.