The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) last week announced plans to make $100 million in interest-free loans available to its member water communities to fully replace lead service lines. Under the proposal, each community would develop its own program, tailored to their local circumstances. The pace of spending will depend on the level of interest by both communities and homeowners, and on any future regulatory requirements for lead service line replacement. Communities will pay the funds back to MWRA over 10 years at zero interest.
MWRA is the process of updating a survey of community lead service lines, but current estimates suggest as many as 28,000 – or 5.6 percent of the total 500,000 service lines – contain lead. The estimated average cost to fully replace a lead service is typically between $3,000 and $5,000. Based on that estimate, the Authority believes the $100 million program should cover removal of all lead services in its service area. In announcing the program, MWRA said partial replacements – which remove only the portion in the street, but leave the portion on private property – would not be eligible for the new program, as current research clearly indicates little public health benefit from a partial replacement.