Service line inventory underway, water meter replacements planned

About a quarter of the service lines in the city are classified as “unknown,” meaning no one knows whether they contain lead.

If the city doesn't figure out whether the lines contain lead, it'll have to replace them to comply with a federal law.

“So the way the law is written, if they’re unknown, you have to assume they contain lead,” said Camaree Uljua, Belgrade’s director of public works, speaking to councilmembers at a March 9 meeting. “Well, the city does not want to be on the hook for replacing 25% of them when we darn well know very few of them contain lead. In fact, it’s probably less than 10 [percent] that actually contain lead based on what we have for records. But you have to have two forms of proof to prove the material of the service lines.”

The city plans to begin replacing water meters to help obtain that proof, according to Uljua.

“That will give us an opportunity to physically look at the services lines and get that second form of proof,” she said.

Meter replacements will begin in about 30 days, she said. Property owners will receive notifications from the city to set a time for workers to replace meters.

The deadline to comply with federal law is 2035, according to Uljua.

“Basically, you’re supposed to start replacing 10% percent of your known lead service lines annually, I believe starting next year," she said. "So this is our last round of data-gathering before we have that list of where we’re supposed to be doing it.”

The city hasn’t determined the extent to which state grant funds will be available to help replace lead lines.