Bay City outlines lead service‑line replacement plan; staff says work accelerated but timeline depends on funding and authorizations

Marty Jurish, the city’s water distribution metering manager, told the Bay City City Commission on April 21 that the city has completed thousands of water-service replacements as part of a state-driven effort to remove lead lines, but that finishing the work will require more funding and homeowner approvals.

Jurish said the program has “completed close to 3,000 services,” and that the city’s database and GIS mapping now show which addresses remain to be completed. He told commissioners the city tapped a $5,000,000 loan and a $3,000,000 grant in 2019, received $10,000,000 from the city’s ARPA allocation and that the remaining cost to finish the work is “somewhere between $20 and $30 million.”

The presentation outlined how the department inventories service lines using century‑old logbooks and modern GIS, prioritizes emergencies and sites with high lead test results, and uses specialized equipment — including hydraulic “pipe puller” tools — to replace long services without trenching.

Why it matters: Lead service lines are a public‑health concern and the state and federal requirements for inventories and replacements create schedules and grant/loan conditions the city must meet. Jurish said the city’s combination of grants, loans,…