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Port Washington outlines inventory and options to address lead service lines; city weighs three approaches including mandatory cost-share
Summary
Water superintendent Dan Fischer presented the city's lead-service-line inventory and three policy options — city-managed voluntary replacements with potential special assessment, mandatory cost-share with ordinance changes, or no city mandate — and detailed an interactive map and hydroexcavation plan to identify unknown laterals.
Dan Fischer, the city’s water and wastewater superintendent, briefed the council on Port Washington’s lead-service-line inventory and policy options on March 17, noting both public- and private-side work required by EPA timelines.
Fischer said the city has roughly 4,000 water services. The first inventory (2024) identified 292 known private lead or galvanized services and nearly 3,000 unknown private services; subsequent work reduced unknowns to roughly 584 private unknowns and about 602 public unknowns. The city has identified 354 known private lead/galvanized services and estimates about half of the remaining unknowns are likely lead based on age and location. Fischer described a plan of targeted hydroexcavation on selected blocks to validate public-side materials and then infer block-level composition for the rest, and he demonstrated an interactive public map that allows residents to search addresses and self-report lateral photos.
Fischer reviewed the EPA’s 2024 Lead and Copper Rule Improvement (LCRI) timeline and stated municipalities must remove public-side lead laterals within a 10-year compliance window beginning in 2027 and make a strong effort to address private-side laterals. The city proposed three options for private-side replacements: (1) a city-managed replacement program with a voluntary approach and a five-year special assessment option for property owners who do not pay up-front; (2) a mandatory program with a city cost-share that would require ordinance changes and mandatory participation; or (3) no new city mandate, replacing public-side lines only when streets are reconstructed and leaving private replacements to property owners.
Fischer noted existing assistance programs for qualifying homeowners (county-administered grants) and asked the council to direct staff to develop a replacement policy. Council members asked procedural questions about how residents can verify lateral material (QR code, magnet or scratch test guidance provided), how multi-family buildings are handled (larger service laterals usually reduce lead likelihood) and how the city will schedule replacements (coordinated with water-main relay projects and DOT projects where applicable).
Fischer estimated hydroexcavation to identify public unknowns could be done in one summer, and he presented a 10-year map of planned mains and replacement sequencing. He said the city is tracking known and unknown entries on the public interactive map and will continue outreach (letters, door hangers and meter-change inspections) to reduce unknowns.
