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Niles faces cost of $48 to $72 million to replace toxic lead pipes that bring water into homes

Chicago Tribune - 5/24/2023

Niles is staring down a hefty price tag to replace lead service lines, the pipes that bring water from the municipal water main into individual homes, that pose a risk to public health, particularly that of children.

Lead, which was used for water pipes in Illinois until 1986, is toxic and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports that it can harm children’s brains and nervous systems, cause developmental delays and lower their IQs. Some neighboring municipalities are looking at $80 million or more to replace their own lead pipes by 2040 as required under a 2021 state law.

The village is applying for a $4 million loan from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to help fund the replacement process. The application estimates that replacement will cost between $48 million and $72 million.

According to the village’s application, there are at least 3,700 and as many as 6,000 lead service lines in Niles that will need replacement, each of which has a likely replacement cost of $12,000.

Village staff and consultants appeared before trustees at a public hearing required as part of the grant application process, stressing that a full-fledged plan for service line replacement was still in the works.

“We have a little bit more time to figure out how we’re going to address this over the long term,” Public Works Director Tom Powers said.

Senior Project Manager Amrou Atassi of consulting firm CDM Smith explained to trustees how service lines are built and walked through federal regulations that set a deadline of October 2024 for municipalities to inventory their service lines and make a replacement plan.

The state of Illinois requires a draft replacement plan to be submitted by April 15, 2024 and a final plan by the same date in 2027, Atassi said.

Director of Public Works Tom Powers noted that village officials were also working connections in Washington and Springfield to try and secure funding for lead pipe replacement.

“There’s not a lot of grant money out there,” Powers said. “But if there is any assistance to be had I’m confident the village is pursuing it, both at the staff level and with the elected officials.”

‘You’re in a similar position as most of your peer communities… it’s a competitive process,” Atassi said.

Mayor George Alpogianis said he was optimistic about covering the costs of the replacement.

“We’re going to do our best to protect our citizens,” he said. “We feel very confident we are going to be OK in terms of being able to share the cost with our citizens.”

Atassi added that any new service lines being installed in Niles are typically made of copper, though Trustee Craig Niedermaier asked if the village had options to replace service lines with a cheaper material going forward.

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