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Inglewood utilities report: 1,000 lead service lines replaced; full inventory verification expected by year-end
Summary
Utilities officials gave a one-year update on the city’s lead service line replacement program, describing funding sources, construction progress, customer outreach, and a current project budget and timeline.
City utilities leaders told council on July 21 that Inglewood’s lead service line reduction program has completed about a year of construction and has replaced roughly 1,230 service lines with the program funded by a mix of state and federal sources.
“It's our biggest project that we have underway right now in the utilities department,” said Peter Van Wright, director of utilities and South Platte Renew, who described a program launched in March 2023 and funded in part by a Drinking Water State Revolving Fund loan and bipartisan infrastructure law principal-forgiveness grant funds. Van Wright said the city received the SRF loan in May 2024 and began construction in July 2024.
Deputy director Sarah Stone and Van Wright said the program maintains three components: city utilities staff, a construction contractor (AGL Constructors), and a program manager consultant (Hazen & Sawyer). Stone said the team has verified about 4,000 of an estimated 8,000 service lines through potholing and other field work and is tracking roughly 1,230 replacements completed to date; the program is currently trending toward a projected 2,700 replacements overall. She added crews replaced the city’s thousandth lead service line earlier in the program.
Program officials told council the city has completed targeted work in priority zones so public-works mill-and-overlay schedules can proceed and that they added 91 insertion valves to improve operational control during construction. Van Wright said the project budget is approximately $40 million and that about 30% of the budget has been expended; he said principal-forgiveness federal funds reduce the city’s debt burden.
Staff reported program outreach totals and customer feedback: 3,884 points of contact, with 62% positive, 35% neutral and 3% negative, plus 22 public events and multiple community meetings and neighborhood nights. Stone said staff revised outreach materials and data transfers after the first zone and added protections for customer access and daily maintenance checks on temporary signs and patches.
Council had no formal vote on the update; staff said they anticipate completing physical verification of all service lines by the end of the year and expect the overall program construction to finish by the end of next year, after which a third construction contract will be presented to council.
