Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
Cleburne approves $4.59 million contract to inventory water service lines under revised lead-and-copper rule
Loading...
Summary
The Cleburne City Council unanimously approved a professional services agreement with Corallo Engineers not to exceed $4,585,590 to develop a citywide water service-line inventory required by revised federal Lead and Copper Rule standards; staff said roughly 10,000 service-line materials remain unknown and the inventory must be complete by 2027.
The Cleburne City Council on Jan. 13 unanimously approved a professional services agreement with Corallo Engineers, authorizing up to $4,585,590 to develop a citywide inventory of water service lines to comply with revised federal Lead and Copper Rule standards.
The inventory will identify materials on both public service lines (water main to meter) and private service lines (meter to structure), work that city staff said will require on-site investigations for many older properties. “We have probably 10,000 roughly unknowns at this point,” Jeremy said, summarizing the scale of records the city must verify.
Why it matters: federal revisions lower action levels and add tap-sampling and verification requirements that force municipalities and utilities to know the material composition of every service line. Jeremy told the council the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) program offers favorable financing — a 30-year loan at 0% interest and about 51% principal forgiveness — which the city plans to leverage to reduce costs for the inventory and later replacement work.
The contract approved by the council covers program management, field investigations (including digging at meters to determine material), data management and public outreach. Staff said the work will be disruptive in places — about 10,000 properties may see short on-site digs around meter boxes — and the city will run an extensive public education effort coordinated with state agencies to manage logistics and provide temporary interim measures (for example, pitchers) when necessary.
Council discussion and next steps: Council members asked about deadlines and funding risks if TWDB awards less than requested. Jeremy said the inventory must be completed by 2027 and municipalities then have up to ten years to complete replacements; if the TWDB provides less than requested, the city remains obligated to comply, which could slow implementation but not the requirement to complete the inventory. The council approved the agreement by voice vote with a unanimous outcome. Jeremy said staff will return with construction-phase funding requests once inventory results clarify replacement costs.
The council approved the measure as presented; the vote was recorded as unanimous.
