Lead in drinking water in Madison is on its way out. Probably most of you are aware of the issue of proposed lead pipe replacement, highlighted in the last TLNA newsletter. By the time of this writing I will have held two district-wide meetings since the entire district, including the Tenney Lapham area, could be affected as the installation of lead pipes ended in 1928. Controversy exists regarding this issue since its health effects are difficult to gauge here. However, the city is required by federal and state laws to take action, either by lead pipe replacement or chemical means and the only chemical treatment that has proved effective in Madison is adding orthophosphate to the water. City Water Utility isn't recommending this approach for two reasons: orthosphosphate would have detrimental effects on both sewage treatment operations and our lakes.

Orthophosphate would cause an average 338 additional pounds/day into our sewage treatment plants, rendering our new biological phosphorous removal system ineffective. It would cause other serious operational and sludge handling problems with additional treatment costs passed on to city residents. In our local surface waters, an additional 5-10 tons/year of phosphorous would enter, promoting algal growth, pond scum, and anaerobic conditions created; the lake would begin to smell and water and aquatic life quality would decrease. This would counter local efforts to reduce phosphorous in our lakes and be contradictory to our three area watershed plans. Although some home filter systems are effective in removing lead as well as running water from the tap before usage, federal and state regulattions mandate treatment which is verifiable, enforceaable and permanent and thus prohibit the utility from using either of these options.

The cost for the affected property owner is quite significant, normally $1500 to $2000. I'm very concerned about this and am working with city staff and other alders to address this. $300 rebates as well as low-interest bank loans will be available. There is also a proposed provision to have the city pay for half of the expenses up to $1000, and making it retroactive to houses who have already made the improvements beginning in 1993 when the federal laws went into effect. This would cost all city residents $10 more/water billing. We're still working on additional ways to aid lower-income households.

The ordinance will be introduced to the City Council probably towards the end of November and will then move forward to different city committees. These are open public meetings and the groundwork will be laid for Council action during this period. If you're interested, I strongly urge you tto keep abreast of what's happening through the media, by contacting myself or David Denig-Chakroff of Water Utility staff and following city committee meettings.