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Date: 11/15/2023
WILBRAHAM — The Wilbraham DPW recently received a $193,000 Lead Service Line Planning Grant from the Massachusetts Clean Water Trust as part of a $47 million round of funding to address water infrastructure projects throughout the commonwealth.
Wilbraham will use the funding to perform a water service line inventory. Service lines are the pipes that carry water from mains to water meters in homes and businesses. The inventory will determine how much, if any, of the town’s roughly 75 miles of pipes are made of lead.
Lead has long been known to be toxic to humans when ingested. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, lead exposure in children can lead to brain and nervous system damage, “slowed growth and development, learning and behavior problems, and hearing and speech problems.”
Adults with a buildup of lead in their bodies may experience damage to the brain and nervous system, kidneys, reproductive and digestive systems.
The use of lead water pipes in construction was banned in 1986, but many homes in Massachusetts were built before this cutoff. The federal Environmental Protection Agency recently began requiring public water systems conduct inventories of their service lines.
DPW Director Tonya Capparello said methods endorsed by the EPA and state Department of Environmental Protection will be used to determine whether service lines are made of lead or copper.
These methods include reviewing old records and photos, using a computer program to anticipate the most likely locations of lead lines, conducting in-home basement inspections and if needed, excavating the lines.
The grant money will pay for related town employee salaries and a contract with the engineering and environmental consultation firm Tighe & Bond to conduct the inventory. The inventory and a plan to address any lead lines found must be submitted to the state by Oct. 16, 2024. If any lines are found, the town will seek more grant funding to help with the cost of replacing them.
“We don’t believe we have any lead lines in our system,” Capparello said. Water sampling has not indicated the presence of lead. The DPW has also interviewed the three previous water superintendents and none of them could recall lead lines being found during their tenures. Capparello said that some towns contain more lead lines than others and that it depends on several factors, including the age of the home.
“We’re open to anyone … who wants an inspection,” Capparello said. The DPW can be contacted at dpw@wilbraham-ma.gov.