Greater Cincinnati Water Works Admits Costs to Property Owners for Lead Service Pipe Replacement Are
On Thursday evening, I attended the monthly meeting for the Cincinnati chapter of the NAACP. Their guest speaker was Cathy Bernardino Bailey, who is the Director of the Greater Cincinnati Water Works. Given recent events with customers getting letters announcing that homeowners with lead service lines would need to pay GCWW thousands of dollars to replace the lines, it seemed prudent to hear what Ms. Bailey had to say directly.
First, you should know that Ms. Bailey is passionate about clean water. A University of Cincinnati graduate with a chemistry degree, she did a couple year stint at the local EPA office before moving to GCWW and working her way to the top position. Her enthusiasm for Cincinnati’s water system is in part because it is one of the best and most innovative in the country, given that much of the country’s drinking water science is researched here. Sourced mostly from the Ohio River, water goes through a triple filtration system before it is ready for human consumption: sand filtration first followed by granular activated carbon and then a UV treatment.
As part of her goal to continue improving the water provided by GCWW, the agency asked the City Council of Cincinnati in June of 2017 if they could roll out this program to replace the lead service pipes with copper pipes. The agency would pay for the replacement of the lead service pipe on public property, but property owners would be responsible for their portion of the pipe. GCWW offered assistance to property owners in the form of either a credit for 40% of the owners’ bill or $1500.00 toward the total costs for the property owners whichever amount was less. They also are setting up an additional service to help low-income homeowners pay for the new copper pipes, but this service hasn’t been funded yet.
Ms. Bailey definitely is a hands-on director and those served by her agency are lucky to have her at the helm. However, in regard to the notices sent to homeowners in older and more low-income neighborhoods, she admits the agency dropped the ball. The letter states that the private part of the lead service pipe must be replaced with copper in order for water service to continue. This wording has caused residents to be concerned because if the property owners don’t pay for service pipe replacement, it sounds as if water could be shut off to the residence. Ms. Bailey said that the city lawyers basically made her agency put in that language, but the intent of the letter and changing the service pipes to copper is to provide the cleanest drinking water possible to residents, not to deny service. Unfortunately intent isn’t magic, and there are no guarantees for property owners based on these letters from GCWW. Hopefully, the agency will send new letters that are more cognizant of the financial burden this new copper pipe initiative causes for many Cincinnati residents.