Highland Park outlines meter, main and lead-line work as city presses toward long-term fixes
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Summary
Water director Damon Garrett described completed master meters, a large lead-service-line replacement push (about 1,000 lines), restoration and contractor issues, and a plan to post project maps and hold quarterly town halls to improve outreach.
Highland Park’s water director, Damon Garrett, told viewers on Ask HP Live that the city has completed three master-meter installations and is pressing ahead with a major program to replace lead service lines, upgrade aging mains and improve long-standing service issues.
"Highland Park is officially, metered on the water side," Garrett said, calling the work "a historic moment" after the city went without metered water since 2012. He said two master meters were completed by July and a third at John R and McNichols was finished in mid-October, a change he said will allow more accurate billing and the possibility of rate relief.
Garrett described two concurrent infrastructure efforts: the recently wrapped “23” water-main project and a larger “24” project that will replace roughly 1,000 lead service lines in the current grant-funded tranche. "With this one project, we are going to double up the amount of lead service lines that we've been able to install," he said, estimating that the work will bring that tranche to about 40% completion.
The director acknowledged customer frustration over contractors entering homes, leaving debris and inconsistent notification. He said the department has asked contractors to coordinate notification through the water department and is pushing for restoration sequencing that fixes yards sooner rather than waiting until the end of an overall project.
Public-safety and cost were central themes. Garrett said the replacement work is primarily driven by health concerns — Highland Park’s distribution system dates to the early 1900s — and by the prospect of reducing the ready-to-serve portion of bills once the system is newer. "The first and foremost reason is the water mains are being replaced because the system age, and it's a health and safety issue," he said.
To detect problems earlier, the department added pressure monitors after a summer that produced an unusual number of main breaks and three boil-water alerts while multiple projects overlapped. Garrett said remote monitoring should help staff spot low-pressure areas before they fail.
On outreach, Garrett said the department has held three town halls this year — including an in-person session at the fire station and a virtual meeting tied to the lead service-line project — and plans quarterly updates. He also said the city will post rough project-area maps on the Highland Park website so residents can see when work is expected near them.
Garrett encouraged residents to seek factual answers at City Hall or the department and to report problems directly rather than rely on social posts. "If people won't come to City Hall, leave your questions there," he said. "It's very important that people receive the proper information."
The department did not announce new funding for retroactive filter distribution to prior project areas; Garrett said current filters are tied to the active grant and only households in the active replacement zones are eligible. Residents outside current project zones who want private replacement remain responsible for replacement costs if they opt out when the block is being served, he said.
Next steps the department flagged include posting maps online, continuing town-hall outreach and pressing contractors to improve restoration timing and communications. The water director said the current project in the Hamilton/Woodward/Davidson/Glendale area is scheduled to finish in July 2026 and the broader water-main program — under a timeline the department is tracking — aims for substantial completion toward 2031.
