Medford council advances $88 million MWRA loan order for full lead service-line replacements to first reading

The Medford City Council voted Feb. 25 to approve for first reading a loan order authorizing up to $88,000,000 in borrowing through the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority’s Local Water System Assistance Program to fund full removal and replacement of lead and galvanized service lines across Medford.

City engineering staff and the commissioner presented the loan request as a three‑year program designed to meet updated federal requirements under the EPA’s revised Lead and Copper Rule. “This program … is a loan program that provides a 25% relief. So like a grant,” said the commissioner during the presentation, describing the MWRA terms that reduce the city’s net borrowing if work removes both private and public portions of service lines.

Engineering staff described the city’s inventory and sampling work: roughly 14,000–14,500 service lines on file, with a third classified as lead, a third as copper and a third listed as unknown; recent test pits and meter exchanges suggest many unknowns are not lead. “Of the unknowns, about 90% are non‑lead, 10% are lead,” the engineer said, adding the city expects the number of true lead lines to fall from earlier estimates once statistical analysis and field sampling are complete.

Officials told councilors the loan package would cover soft costs (design and statistical analysis) and hard costs (testing and replacement). Staff estimated the full scale of lead‑line work in Medford could be in the tens of millions—“anywhere between $40 and $60 million” by current estimates, though that number could shrink if sampling reduces the count of lead lines. The presenters said the loan would be repaid by the city’s water enterprise fund; if the city uses the MWRA program as described about $6,000,000 of an $8,000,000 draw would require 10 years of repayment from ratepayers at 0% interest under the described scenario.

Councilors pressed staff on timing, homeowner impacts and equity prioritization. The presenters said the program targets environmental‑justice neighborhoods first and that the MWRA rebate requires removal of both sides of a service line. Staff stressed the program’s regulatory imperative: the EPA’s revised rule sets aggressive timelines and the city is working toward a long‑term target referenced in the presentation.

Councilor Callahan moved and Councilor Zara seconded approval for first reading; the clerk called the roll and the motion passed. The loan order will return for the statutory additional readings required for municipal borrowings and final authorization.

If approved in subsequent readings, the program would enable the city to replace private‑side lines as part of the public contract rather than leaving replacement costs to homeowners. City staff said the package is only one funding avenue and they continue to pursue federal grants and state revolving funds to lower the city’s net cost.