Oct. 16—GOSHEN — There are no all-lead service lines in the city of Goshen.
That’s what the recently completed LEAD-SAFE GIS Interactive Map report indicates after the city reported 11,673 service lines to the state of Indiana.
The project was part of the Water Service Line Inventory requirements established by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and the Environmental Protection Agency to meet state and federal Lead and Copper Rule requirements.
“The highlight is that I think we’ve been able to determine that our utility poses a lower risk than a lot of other places in the county,” said Public Works Director Dustin Sailor.
Using online surveys, home visits, self-reporting and online surveys, Goshen’s Engineering Department and the Water and Sewer Department determined the material of more than 50% of Goshen’s service lines serving more than 6,000 households by the 16 deadline October for inventory collection. More than 570 Goshen residents and building managers self-reported their customer-side service line materials to the project database.
Abonmarche Consultants conducted pit excavations at 400 representative locations to visually inspect both sides of the shutoff valve and used predictive analytics from BlueConduit to assign material probability to unidentified service lines with 95% confidence.
According to Sailor, there are 1,609 lines where a portion of the line is known to contain galvanized lead based on data or field verifications, and based on predictive modeling based on probability analyses, 4,102 service lines are expected to contain galvanized lead.
“While we are still waiting for final predictions, early modeling results estimate that approximately 1,202 of the uncategorized lines are galvanized,” Sailor said. “We visually verified 6,437 lines on the customer side and 810 on the utility side.”
The results show that Goshen water lines meet Indiana Department of Environmental Management and Environmental Protection Agency Lead Safe reporting requirements.
Goshen’s lead line inventory program began in 2016. While no service lines were found that were 100% lead, Sailor said finding just one would have created an entirely different situation for the utility department.
However, they did find a number of gooseneck pieces leading from the water pipe that were made of galvanized lead.
“We can date our water system to the 1890s, but the practice in Goshen is that they only used that two-foot piece of lead,” Sailor explained. “In later years they started using copper and in recent years we have been using high-density polyethylene.”
Sailor said the city is conducting a lead survey, testing for lead particles within the lines, and found no service lines exceeding the maximum contaminant level. Due to the hard water and neutral pH of the city’s water, instead of the pipes deteriorating and metal ions being extracted, the lead goosenecks are instead coated with hard water particles.
“I think the biggest thing we’ve seen with our galvanized pipes, because some of them have quite a bit of age, you’ll see crusting where mineral deposits build up on the inside of the pipes,” he explained.
Those lines need to be replaced, but EPA guidelines do not require two-foot sections to be replaced.
The city has been replacing the goosenecks for several years and, thanks to some subsidies, is planning larger-scale work.
A $2.5 million grant and a $2.5 million loan at 0% interest will cover half of the $10 million set aside for the replacement of galvanized service lines, starting on the city’s north side. Portions of US 33 to Wilden Avenue and from Ind. 15 to Riverside Boulevard are the first target area.
Sailor said there are approximately 485 service lines in the area that are expected to need to be addressed, but only galvanized lines will be replaced and some of the materials used in those lines were determined using the predictive modeling analysis.
North of Oakridge Avenue, a complete reconstruction is planned of Wilden Avenue and from Main Street to Rock Run Creek, which will also include new main and service lines. For any service pipes that appear to be galvanized there, private pipes are also replaced up to the meter.
It’s a change from the old way of doing things, where the city only replaced the right-of-way on the public side.
“Since we’re not required to replace them, I would say we’re doing everything we can,” Sailor said. “Every time we talk to someone, it’s important that they give the city access to their property. The cost of one of these services can be up to $10,000.”
The Dickerson Landing neighborhood recently got a new water line, so the city will go back and replace private lines as well. To replace private lines, the city needs a right of entry.
The city is also working to install new faucets and home service in the area north of US 33, near the Old Bag Factory, to help eliminate any potential risk from that system.
“The EPA has stated that this sixty-foot section of lead does not need to be replaced,” Sailor said. “What we’re doing, though, is hedging the bet that at some point in the future they’ll say we want it all gone.”
If by chance these areas don’t cost the total $10 million, the next identified areas are Dewey Avenue, Hickory Place, Baker Street and Prairie Street.
The 10th Street Reconstruction Project is nearing completion on the public highway side utility replacement portion. However, the city also plans to return in the winter and replace the pipes to private property water meters as well. Sailor said the city has replaced lines with goosenecks leading to homes during all projects over the past year.
For more information about the area’s mains, visit leadsafe-goshenindiana.hub.arcgis.com for an interactive map of the pipe materials used in the city.
Dani Messick is the education and entertainment reporter for The Goshen News. She can be reached at dani.messick@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2065.
