Removing all the lead pipes in Minnesota could take up to ten years

Removing all the lead pipes in Minnesota is the currently underway in many communities throughout the state. While there are plenty of water sources in the Land of 10,000 lakes, many homes use lead pipes to transport the water. There are several health impacts from lead in drinking water whether its’ hearing problems, anemia, or even kidney issues.

Mayor Emily Larson of Duluth, talked more about the current efforts of removing all the lead pipes in the city. “We are currently estimating that maybe up to 9000 households in the city of Duluth will need to have their lead line replaced.” Larson said. “We are excited that we are using ARPA funds here and we’ll be leveraging the state funds. You’ll be notified well in advance of when a project is in your neighborhood or for your home.”

However, removing all the lead pipes are in private homes, which is why the project will take ten years. “We are thrilled to have the state’s investment and this is also something that we have been working on and we had positioned a $10 million request to the Legislature to partner with us to address our lead lines.” Larson said.

Although Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, talked about how the removing all the lead pipes in MN to improve the infrastructure. “It’s going to keep about 4500 people busy for about the next decade doing this important work for households just to each community will do it differently on how they’re doing it.” Walz said. “This is going to make a difference in people’s health. It’s going to improve our infrastructure to where it needs to be. And we’re going to see the good creating the good paying jobs coming out of this.”

For more information on how you can reduce lead exposure in drinking water you can look here. For more stories about lead you can look here.