The Warwick Water Division is looking to get the lead out….all the lead by the fall of 2024.

Division director Terry DiPetrillo said Monday the plan is to seek bids to replace 157 interior and exterior lead services in the next 18 months, if not sooner. Traditionally, the city has only replaced exterior lead services, leaving the homeowner to cope with internal plumbing.

DiPetrillo is not looking to leave anything to chance to make Warwick lead-free when it comes to water.  He wants the job completed by October 2024 when new EPA guidelines regulating lead in water take effect.  The effort also calls for the removal of 12 galvanized service lines that are “down stream” from lead services. The lead chemically reacts with the galvanized lines, making them a health hazard, too.

The division has chipped away at replacing lead service lines that once numbered 1,500. For the final push to rid the city of lead services, DiPetrillo aims to retain three contractors to do the work. He’s uncertain how that will work when it comes to bidding since it won’t be a matter of simply picking the low bidder. He believes Beta Engineering, that is preparing the bid specifications, will come up with a plan.

Most of the services needing replacement are in the Gaspee section of the city that was developed over a decade beginning in the early 1940s. With WWII, cooper and brass were in high demand for the war effort, and contractors turned to lead for plumbing, explained Michael DiPetrillo, Terry’s brother and division senior foreman.  Identifying all the lead services entailed an extensive survey of the city, often requiring personnel to gain entrance to private residences.  Knowing that lead services were used in place of brass and copper services during WWII was a great help in identifying homes with lead services.

DiPetrillo said maps showing sections showing individual houses with lead services will be posted on the division’s website within the next two weeks.

 Not only are the service lines heavy, but the pipe walling is thick and constricts water flow. With the replacement to PVC, DiPetrillo said homeowners will experience increased volume and water pressure.

DiPetrillo said two methods are used to replace the in-ground service line, digging it up that may require cuts to a sidewalk and unearthing trees, lawns and gardens or using a method called “pulling.” If the lead service is straight and hasn’t warped (lead is highly malleable), a cable is fed down the pipe and affixed to its replacement. Then the new pipe is pulled into place as the old one is extricated.

Depending on conditions, DiPetrillo estimated a contractor should be able to complete one to two replacements daily.

Terry DiPetrillo projected the cost of completely ridding the city of lead services at $2.5 million. He said this would come out division maintenance reserves, which is about $7 million, and state infrastructure funds.

The Warwick Water Division, comprised to 380 miles of distribution mains has 26,900 services with an average usage of 2 billion gallons a year. For the most part, Warwick buys water wholesale from the Providence Water Supply and has two main storage tanks on Bald Hill Road with a capacity of 12.5 million gallons.  Kent County Water provides service to the Apponaug, Arnold’s Neck and Cowesett sections of the city.

Lead that has been removed from gasoline and paints can cause serous health problems especially for pregnant women and young children.

According to the 2015 Kids Count factbook, Rhode Island children are  considered to be “significantly lead poisoned” if she or he has a single venous blood test result of ≥20 µg/dL or two venous tests of 15-19 µg/dL that are 90-365 days apart. The number of children under age six who were significantly lead poisoned has decreased by 83% over the past nine years, from 212 in 2005 to 37 in 2013.  In Warwick out of the 729 students tested in 2015, 31 were found to have lead blood levels of less than 5 µg/dL.

While water can be a source of lead poisoning, it has not been the only source. Flaking lead-based paint found in older homes (the use of lead in paint was banned in 1978) and toys painted with lead-based paint were identified as significant contributors. Lead in gasoline was banned in 1986.

According to Kids Count, lead exposure, even at very low levels, can cause irreversible damage including reduced fetal and postnatal growth, decreased hearing, delayed puberty, poor muscle coordination, kidney damage, increased risk for behavioral problems, decreased cognitive abilities and lower academic performance.

National attention was focused on the danger of lead in water when the drinking water in Flint, Michigan was contaminated with lead in 2016 prompting then governor, Rick Snyder, to declare a state of emergency in Genesse County where Flint is located.