In the wake of recently-approved utility rate hikes meant to pay for such improvements, the St. Charles City Council has given the green light for a $7.6 million lead service line replacement project in the city.
The replacement of lead service lines is required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and must be completed within 10 years under a rule approved by former President Joe Biden’s administration meant to reduce lead in drinking water, a deadline that President Donald Trump’s administration recently indicated it is backing, according to the Associated Press.
Lead, a heavy metal once common in products like pipes and paints, is a neurotoxin that can stunt children’s development, lower IQ scores and increase blood pressure in adults. Lead pipes can corrode and contaminate drinking water, officials have said.
St. Charles’ lead service line replacements are expected to cost about $8.4 million annually, and must begin in 2026, officials have said. The city’s water utility has a little over 3,000 projected lead service lines connected to the community water supply distribution system, according to documents from the city.
Recently, the city pointed to its need to replace lead service lines in advance of the EPA deadline, as well as make other improvements, as the rationale for a series of upcoming utility rate hikes for city customers. St. Charles residents can expect to see a roughly 17% increase in their overall utility charges beginning in June, with subsequent increases expected annually through 2029. Once the lead line replacements are completed, water rates can be decreased, the city has indicated
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.Earlier this month, the City Council also approved of the city requesting state and federal legislators to consider extending the timeline for St. Charles to get into compliance with the EPA requirements and to provide additional grant funding or no-interest loan options to help with the lead line replacements.
The measure approved last week is to award a bid for $7,650,000 to Swallow Construction for upcoming lead line replacement work. Swallow’s bid was one of only two received by the city, and was the only one that was properly submitted and that followed all the bidding requirements, city officials said.
The company has completed other water and sewer projects for St. Charles, and has worked with other communities in the area on lead line replacements, the city has said.
The actual replacement cost for each service line will be different for each home, as a result of site conditions, city officials have said. The city required that bidders provide the unit cost for most of the items typically encountered when replacing lead service lines, and has set up an allowance for items that cannot be detailed.
Based on the figures provided by Swallow Construction, a typical service line replacement is set to cost between $21,000 and $25,000, the city has said.
The awarding of the $7.6 million lead line replacement project was originally slated to be discussed at the City Council’s Committee of the Whole meeting on April 20, but was pushed to a later date.
It was ultimately brought up again at a May 4 Committee of the Whole meeting, at which Tim Wilson, a public works manager in environmental services for the city, said that St. Charles is aiming to complete about 300 lead service line replacements this year — around 10% of what it needs to complete overall.
Wilson said future steps include contacting homeowners and holding a public meeting for residents to ask questions in advance of the replacement project beginning.
The matter then came to the City Council last week for final approval.
At the meeting, Ald. Steve Weber requested the city go back to bid for the work because the city only received the one bid from Swallow. The item, however, was approved by the City Council last week, with only Weber voting against it.
Ald. Bryan Wirball, at the meeting, requested that the City Council get monthly updates throughout the process as to how many lines are replaced and the costs.
The Associated Press contributed.