City expands program to test and filter lead in homes

In an effort to replace the remaining 3,900 lead service connections in Regina, the city wants to expand its current lead service connection management program by giving residents a device to filter lead, along with a free lead testing kits.

“This is something every city in North America will probably be dealing with,” said Pat Wilson, director of water works. “The lead connections are part of the thing we are working on, but people may have sources of lead inside their home. That is why we are taking the approach of talking about filters and testing, rather than just replacing the connections.”

From the turn of the 20th century to the 1930s, lead was commonly used as a plumbing material in service connections in Regina. This stopped in the 1950s, and beginning in 2010, the city stopped repairing leaks on city-owned lead service connections and instead began replacing them. Four years later, the city started replacing lead connections before major roadway work.

Today 95 per cent of the cityowned water service connections are lead-free. The most common locations for lead connections is in older neighbourhoods, with houses that predate 1960.

“We don’t know what people have on their private side,” Wilson said. “The city connection could have been replaced a long time ago, but there may still be sources of lead in their home.”

Activities this year will include performing a random testing study to collect data through the tap water testing of 5o to 100 residents, providing educational material to the public, and increasing the number of replacements of cityowned lead service connections through existing construction projects.

Random testing will begin in July, and with council approval, filter rebates and in-home pointof-use testing will begin in August. Council will receive a report for further program activities in April next year.

“If people are concerned about lead levels, one thing to do is run the tap before you drink the water, which flushes the home plumbing,” said Wilson. “You can also remove and clean the screen in the tap. If you unscrew that and clean that out, it will help.”

Boiling water will not remove lead, but will instead cause it to become concentrated in the water.

The city will spend $235,000, which comes from the 2017 utility operational budget, to fund a citywide filter rebate program and testing.

According to the report from city administration, if the work is evenly distributed until all lead service connections are replaced, the activities can be managed within the long-term financial model of the utility and will not result in rate increases.

Over the course of 30 years, inhome, point-of-use testing, a random testing study and the filters program will cost $3.07 million.

“We are going to be spending this year getting more data so we have good information to propose a complete program to council,” Wilson said.

“Once we have that information and a better sense of how many of these situations that we have that can be addressed, that helps us build a program.”

The city connection could have been replaced a long time ago, but there may still be sources of lead in their home.