Last week, the common council approved a $20 million bond resolution and the state environmental quality review (SEQR) for inventory and replacement grants for the city to proceed with its federally mandated replacement of lead water pipes with copper.
Lockport has covered the costs of the $20 million project, according to Mike Marino, engineer and chief executive officer of Nussbaumer & Clarke, Inc. The funding includes a $10 million, no-interest government loan, which Marino said the city is seeking grant funds to offset.
Marino said it often takes more than a year to put all the required agreements in place, which the city began at the council meeting. Construction to replace pipes is expected to begin late next summer.
Marino provided an overview to aldermen last week of the project, which involves identifying and replacing lead water pipes from residents’ homes to the street. So far, 1,300 water hookups have been identified, and Marino said the process of determining where lead pipes exist underground is far from over. There are 8,000 total water hookups in the city, he said.
During their meeting, aldermen finalized agreements for grants and a loan that will finance the project. This included:
• $124,000 from the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Lead Service Line Inventory grant to locate and map city properties with lead pipes
• $10 million from the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to replace the lead pipes with copper
• $10 million from a state Environmental Facilities Corporation zero percent loan.
In the 2024 round of federal grants, Lockport was the only community in Niagara County to receive the funds, Marino said. A closing would occur by the end of the year for the no-interest loan.
John Craig, 1st Ward alderman who serves as chair to the city council’s finance committee, said the city would need to work on a strategic plan to manage the project, with the first phase addressing much of the First and Third wards.
“There’s more detail that needs to emerge,” Craig said.
Design and bid packages needed development in the next year, Marino said, “and get contractors moving” on the project.
While the lead levels in the city’s water are in compliance, Marino said, a federal mandate requires that lead pipes be identified and replaced by 2037 for residences and businesses.
To start determining the scope of the work, Marino said the city mailed letters asking residents to take photos of water pipes entering their homes and send it using a QR code. Lead pipe findings were added to a map that also identified homes built or repaired in the 1930s, when lead pipes were required by construction code, Marino said.
Homes that were built after the 1970s, when lead was no longer installed, were eliminated from the map.
“Based on the records, we’re probably at 50%,” Marino said. “But before we replace any service, we would do a physical identification.”
Marino said resident information is still needed, and more letters will be mailed.