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Detroit seeks federal help to remove lead service lines; City to match Army Corps funds for right‑of‑way work
Summary
Detroit Water and Sewer Department asked the public health and safety committee to walk on a DWSD contract to match federal funding for lead service line removals; officials said the Army Corps will fund much of the work in city right‑of‑way and the city must act quickly to secure this season’s work.
Detroit Water and Sewer Department officials told the City Council Public Health and Safety Standing Committee on May 12 that they are asking the council to quickly approve a walk‑on contract to secure matching funds that would unlock Army Corps of Engineers work to remove lead service lines in the city right‑of‑way.
“First, the Biden administration changed the lead and copper rule to require all utilities to remove the lines within a 10‑year period,” Gary Brown, director of the Detroit Water and Sewer Department, told the committee. “So we have to remove 10% of the lines.” Brown said the city has used prior federal and bond funding and that the Army Corps of Engineers agreed to perform significant removals if the city provides a local match for this construction season.
Brown said the Army Corps would put contracts out and that the city should give the Corps a list of prequalified local contractors. He described a near‑term match arrangement and the department’s timeline: “This first year, we'd have to match 25% of a million dollars, in order to get $4,000,000 worth of work done by the Army Corps. Next year, they're agreeing to only having us put up 10% instead of 25%. And we'll take it to $10,000,000 and we'll put up 1,000,000, they'll put up 9 in order to remove these lead service lines.”
Deborah Pospich, senior advisor to the DWSD director, said the Army Corps’ federal money cannot be used on private property. DWSD has mapped parcels where the house has been demolished and where an abandoned lead service line remains in the city right‑of‑way; Pospich said the department plans to prioritize those parcels so the Corps can “get the most bang for the buck.” She said the department estimates the Army Corps’ $4 million could remove roughly 1,500 abandoned lead service lines from the inventory.
Council members asked about alternatives and costs. Committee members were told that if the city had to pay for the full program via rates, the annual cost could approach $100 million and would likely bring sizable water‑rate increases. Brown said the department has averaged about 2.9% rate increases in the last decade but said a $100 million annual bill would raise rates into double digits.
The committee approved walking the DWSD item for discussion and sent the walk‑on to formal new business with a recommendation to approve; committee members asked DWSD to “socialize” the proposal with council colleagues so it could be considered promptly. DWSD emphasized that the construction season is short and that time is a material factor in procuring contractors and starting work.
No formal ordinance or rate action was adopted at the meeting; the committee’s approval moved the DWSD item to the council’s formal agenda for a subsequent vote.
