The city of Buffalo is getting help from community groups to reach residents about lead water pipes at their residences. City officials and representatives from the groups launched an initiative called Community Care Worker Coalition: Economic Empowerment in Lead Line Remediation Community Action Plan. EELL-CAP, for short, is a collaboration between the Buffalo Water Board, Open Buffalo and the Community Health Center of Buffalo to go neighborhood by neighborhood gathering information from residents about lead service lines – the pipes that connect municipal water mains to homes and other buildings – so they eventually can be replaced.
Buffalo Water Board Chairman Oluwole "OJ" McFoy speaks to reporters on Aug. 15, 2024, about new outreach program to help city residents identify lead service lines at their households. Masten Common Council Member Zeneta B.
Everhart (in white) and Open Buffalo Executive Director Franchelle Parker (in yellow) look on. The community groups will work with the city on a six-month pilot program that kicked off Thursday at Broderick Park, beginning with Hamlin Park, Cold Springs and surrounding neighborhoods. Workers will assist households in identifying their water service lines and enter data onto a digital map system.
Agents also will help residents collect water tap samples to be submitted to a lab for testing to detect elevated lead levels. “The idea behind the Community Care Worker coalition is for our community partners to actively pursue this information, motivate our community and ..
. collaborate (with the city) to make sure that we can get these things done,” Buffalo Water Board Chairman Oluwole "OJ" McFoy said Thursday. "Clean water, air, and soil are not a luxury but a human right,” said Open Buffalo Executive Director Franchelle Parker.
Half of the more than 200 households tested in 2023 showed lead in drinking water distributed by the Erie County Water Authority and Buffalo Water Board, according to a Buffalo News analysis of Erie County Health Department data. The initiative is part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed Lead and Copper Rule Improvements , released in late November. It would require the elimination of all lead service lines within 10 years, at a pace of 10% per year, as well as improved lead testing protocols and more stringent water quality standards when it comes to lead.
Galvanized steel service lines that are or were downstream of a lead service line also must be replaced because they can absorb lead from upstream lead pipes, according to the EPA, which is expected to finalize the new regulations in October. The EPA is requiring that water providers create an inventory of all confirmed lead service lines. Online map Lead is a toxin that even at small doses can cause serious health effects in children, including lower IQ levels and learning and behavior problems.
In adults, lead exposure is linked to heart disease, high blood pressure and kidney and nervous system problems. The city of Buffalo has more than 800 miles of underground lead pipes that carry water into Buffalo homes and will have to be dug up and replaced by 2037 under EPA’s proposed guidelines. Using a predictive model, Buffalo Water officials estimate that 40,000 lead service lines would need to be taken out and exchanged for copper lines.
However, about 33,000 service lines in the Buffalo Water system that are presumed to be lead have yet to be confirmed as such. Late last year, Buffalo Water launched Service Line Inventory Map so city residents can access information about the number of known and unknown lead service lines across the city and take an online survey providing information about their home service lines. Residents can click on the map at https://getwaterwisebuffalo.
org/en/ and enter their address to find out what type of service line goes into their home. If the service line material is unknown for an address, residents living there are being asked to fill out a survey to help determine whether it is a lead service line. With tens of thousands of unknown service lines remaining, the EELL-CAP model aims to collect this information from community members or motivate them to complete the survey themselves.
“We know that many people did not participate, and so we still have that site active, but now we will be putting boots on the ground,” McFoy said. The costs The price tag to replace the lead piping citywide could be as much as $500 million, McFoy said Thursday. U.
S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer on Monday announced that $129 million in federal money will be coming to eligible communities across the state for the purpose of removing potentially toxic lead pipes.
City officials are relying on state and federal aid to pay a substantial portion. U.S.
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer said in May that Buffalo Water and the Erie County Water Authority are likely to be in line for significant amounts of the federal lead pipe replacement aid. Even more will be on the way to water systems as part of $15 billion set aside for lead pipe replacement across the country under the Bipartisan Infrastructure law, he said.
Buffalo Water has replaced nearly 2,000 leaking or burst lead water lines since 2019, under its Replacing Old Lead Lines, or ROLL, program, at no cost to the property owners. The city gave Buffalo Water $10 million in American Rescue Act money to help pay for the lead line replacements, McFoy said. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter.
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