City considers fast-tracking lead pipe replacements

Jake Rupert , The Ottawa Citizen, January 24, 2008

The city will look at the cost of speeding up its program to replace lead water-pipe connections to houses after a council vote yesterday.

Under the current program, 150 of the connections are replaced every year at a cost of $1 million.  With an estimated 16,000 connections, mostly in the downtown core in houses built before the mid-1950s, it would take 106 years to replace all the connections at the current rate.

Bay councilor Alex Cullen asked council to have staff look at the cost of replacing all the connections by 2014 and include the costs for consideration in the 2009 budge deliberations.

City staff say, with a few precautions, such as flushing residential water systems for five minutes before using the tap water, the dangers of lead in water are all but eliminated even for children and pregnant women.

Mr. Cullen said that most people with lead pipes connecting their homes to the city’s water supply wont’ know they should be flushing their systems before drinking the water, and that it’s time for the city to show leadership on the issue.

The most vocal opposition came from Rideau-Rockcliffe Councillor Jacques Legendre.

He said he would have been in favour of Mr. Cullen’s request if the science showed it was a serious public health risk, but the data showed it’s not. 

Despite this, Mr. Cullen’s motion passed by a vote of 11 to 10.