This past summer the City of Dauphin reduced the number of lead water service lines in the community thanks to a financial incentive for homeowners.
In June, a $1,000 rebate was made available to homeowners who have lead service lines on their property and who contracted city crews to replace those line.
The incentive was the result of Health Canada allowable lead standards being halved from 10 parts micrograms per billion to five and testing switching from the distribution system to the tap back in 2018.
At the time tests were conducted on 17 homes in Dauphin which had lead service lines - the line connecting the watermain in the street to the residential plumbing system - with 14 of those tests coming back with lead levels higher than the current standards.
In 2018, the city had 445 lead service connections out of 3,500 systemwide. While city officials encouraged homeowners with lead service lines to change them at the time, 420 remained heading into this construction.
“This year alone, we’ve probably replaced 15 to 20 throughout the community, and this incentive helped and we’re aiming for that 10 to 20 a year, just to start to chisel away at this,” director of Public Works and Operations, Mike VanAlstyne said. “We are offering this anywhere in the community where lead has been identified. And if people wonder if they have lead, they can contact us here at the city and we can search their property records.”
While the cost of replacing a service line varies from property to property, the amount is about $3,000.
Under the City’s Water and Sewer Utility System Bylaw, the replacement of lead service lines for property owners is cost-shared. The City pays to replace the line from the water main to the property line and the property owner pays to replace it from the property line to the building.
An incentive which offers around a one-third reduction in costs seems to be making a difference, VanAlstyne said.
“I don’t know if one season is enough to see the success of it, but we’re happy with the way it’s been going with people buying into it,” he said. “We would love to remove all services that carry lead.”
According to a Province of Manitoba fact sheet, although blood levels have fallen significantly in recent decades due to the removal of lead from gasoline and paint, lead remains an important health concern.
The higher and longer the exposure to lead, the greater the effect on health.
Lead exposure has been associated with effects on intellectual development and behaviour of children. Water levels around 0.010 mg/L would be considered a low level lead exposure and may have effects on intellectual development and behaviour of children.
Other health effects, such as cardiovascular effects - increases in blood pressure and reduced kidney function - have also been associated with relatively low levels of lead exposure. High levels of lead exposure have additional health impacts.
Anyone wanting their service changed should contact the city shop at 204-622-3202.
“We can provide them an estimate for the work and put them in the queue if they’re interested,” VanAlstyne said. “Our waterworks crews probably have work until the end of November at this point, doing services with new construction and lead. So I think we’re almost queing into the new year for new people.”
