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Public works seeks authority to use infrastructure fee to inspect and replace private lead service lines under new EPA rule
Summary
Public Works told the council it needs to rename and expand the environmental protection fee to fund mandatory inventories and replacements under the EPA’s revised Lead and Copper Rule; staff cited an inventory deadline of November 2027 and described potholing inspections and outreach to 6,900 property owners.
Anne Arundel County’s Department of Public Works asked the County Council to revise allowable uses of an existing utility fee so the county can meet a federal lead service‑line inventory and replacement mandate.
Erin Day, assistant director of public works, said the Environmental Protection Agency’s revised Lead and Copper Rule (an amendment to the Safe Drinking Water Act) requires all public water utilities serving more than 3,000 customers to inventory service line materials and to replace lead service lines. Day said the county currently serves about 130,000 properties and has roughly 8,000 properties with unknown private service‑line materials; staff estimate closer to 1,000 will ultimately need replacement.
To complete the investigation stage the county plans targeted site inspections using a method called potholing — digging a roughly 12‑inch by 12‑inch hole to expose the exterior of the service line; staff said a pothole inspection takes about three to four hours. The county has already mailed roughly 6,900 letters to owners with unknown pipe materials and posted an online inventory and self‑test instructions; Day said the outreach has been ongoing for years and the EPA requires a complete inventory by November 2027.
Because the county’s current code restricts the environmental protection fee to public infrastructure work, staff asked the council to rename the fee to “infrastructure maintenance fee” and expand allowable uses so the county can fund private‑side inspections and replacements without creating a new tax. Day said the replacement work is programmed into the county’s capital improvement program but that funding and access authority must be clarified to meet the federal deadline.
Council members pressed implementation details: whether the county can proceed if homeowners do not respond (Day said the bill would permit access and replacement without written homeowner consent in those cases), whether targeted neighborhoods near Baltimore accounted for higher unknown counts, and how long properties will be without water during replacement (estimated outage 4–8 hours per replacement). DPW staff said they prefer voluntary homeowner tests where feasible but will perform potholing and systematic replacements if necessary.
No formal vote was taken; council members expressed support and asked DPW to coordinate outreach and reporting.
