MAWC allocates $1 million grant to pay for replacement of lead waterlines

The Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County will replace as many as 400 lead service lines for customers in northern Westmoreland and Armstrong counties.

The project is the first phase of what will be an authoritywide program to meet federal standards to remove all lead service lines from the water system, officials said.

Authority officials last year started to inventory the system’s more than 122,000 service lines for the presence of lead pipes and so far have found only a small portion of the area where replacements are needed.

The federally mandated inventory must be completed by October 2024. To date, about half of the authority’s system that includes customers in Westmoreland, Allegheny, Armstrong, Fayette and Indiana counties has been reviewed.

“So far, less than 1% of waterlines have been identified as lead,” said Brian Hohman, business manager for the authority.

Once finished, the authority estimated, the inventory will reveal fewer than 1,200 lead service lines in the system to be replaced.

Most of the lead lines found are at structures that date back nearly a century.

“We’re going through our paper and electronic records and will also be visiting customers to record what is coming on to properties,” Hohman said. “We have not identified many properties with lead lines built after 1930, when we started to require copper lines.”

The authority is expected to launch a program in the summer that will allow property owners to submit pictures of pipes that enter local homes and businesses.

The replacement projects are being paid for through a $1 million grant funded with casino tax revenue collected by the state to focus on the authority’s service area near Vandergrift.

Additional funding will be sought to replace lead lines throughout the remaining portion of the authority’s service area.

While other jurisdictions have experienced emergencies related to long-term lead exposure in local water systems, Westmoreland authority officials said the local water service found no excessive traces of lead nor large numbers of lead service lines.

“We have a very small amount in our area, compared to Pittsburgh,” authority Chairman Randy Roadman said.

The Municipal Authority of Buffalo Township has received a grant of nearly $743,000 from the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PennVEST) to replace lead water lines in Freeport.

The PennVEST grant will be used to replace service lines to 133 homes.

“Lead water lines are dangerous to a person’s health, especially young children,” said state Rep. Abby Major, who represents the 60th District, which spans Armstrong and Westmoreland counties, including the Kiski Valley.

“The cost to replace these pipes without state assistance would have resulted in rate increases that the residents would have been unable to afford. I’m pleased PennVEST agreed to support this important project.”

The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, which serves about 300,000 customers, has been replacing lead service lines since 2016. According to the agency’s website, it replaced more than 10,000 lead lines over the past seven years and is on pace to finish its work in 2026.

Officials said PWSA planned to spend $26 million on lead line replacements last year.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has estimated there are between 6 million and 10 million lead service lines throughout the country.

Routine annual testing of Westmoreland’s water system continues to show lead levels in the county’s water to be below federal standards. Officials said water remains safe to drink, even in properties in the authority’s service area where lead pipes still are in use.

“We use a corrosive inhibitor at our treatment plants to provide a protective barrier that does not allow lead to leak out into the water,” Hohman said.

This story is updated to reflect that there were no excessive traces of lead or large numbers of lead service lines.