Columbus Water and Power outlines free lead and galvanized service-line replacements in Linden

Columbus Water and Power officials told a packed Linden community meeting that nine construction projects in and around the neighborhood will replace lead and galvanized water service lines, and that homeowners will not be billed directly for those replacements.

"The good news is that we don't have detectable lead in our water," said Emily Eskridge, regulatory compliance manager for the Division of Water, Columbus Water and Power. She said the utility samples regularly and runs a corrosion-control program in coordination with Columbus Public Health, but is accelerating service-line replacements both because it views removal as "the right thing to do" and because of a federal requirement to eliminate lead service lines over the next decade.

Officials provided residents with logistics, timelines and safety guidance. Tim Huffman, chief engineer for the division's distribution side, said the nine projects together represent about $50 million in capital and construction-management costs. Huffman said the Division of Water estimates roughly 60,000 service lines remain to be replaced citywide and that the utility plans to replace about 5,000 per year.

Why the replacements and who pays

Officials framed the work as public-health and asset-management work. Eskridge said Columbus has rarely found lead on the private (customer) side of service lines and has mostly found galvanized steel downstream of city-owned lead pipes; the city will treat galvanized service lines like lead because they can collect and release lead particles.

Cameron, a Columbus Water and Power…