Council approves $1.8M loan order for citywide lead pipe replacement

By The Advocate

The Revere City Council approved a $1,875,000 loan order that CFO Richard Viscay said would help Revere remove lead service pipes throughout the entire city.

The money would go toward a zero-interest loan with the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), specifically the Lead Service Line Replacement Program.

Last year, the MWRA approved $100 million in new assistance to communities exclusively for removal and replacement of lead service lines, the pipes that connect to the water main to the curb and then to a residential water meter. This time around, the MWRA has offered 25 percent forgiveness on the loan for communities whose lead pipe replacement plans include replacing lead pipes on private property if one is found. Viscay stressed that provision and said he strongly supported the loan order.

Back in 2017, Revere received a $195,000 loan to design and develop a lead line replacement project for the city. And since then, work has been ongoing especially through the water meter replacement program.

Anthony Gulizia, assistant superintendent of the City’s Water and Sewer Department, provided some recent numbers for the city council.

Gulizia said the city has gone from 1,159 unknown service lines to 578. The number of known lead service lines has dropped from 743 to 445.

“Our mission is to do this as quickly as possible, to get the lead out of the city,” Gulizia told councillors. “We’ve put a lot of resources and manhours into this. This loan would really help us expedite the process.”

Ward 4 Councillor Paul Argenzio asked about line replacements on private property. Argenzio wanted to be sure lead lines on private property would be replaced with no cost to homeowners.   Argenzio also wanted to make sure that when landscaping is disrupted or walls or stairs taken down to replace pipes that everything is put back in place.

Gulizia said contractors are required to restore everything to the original condition.