FAIRMONT– More than 500 residences and business places received a letter from the city this week asking for assistance with determining what material their water service line is. This is one of many steps the city is going through in its project to remove all lead pipes per a state and federal mandate.

Public Works Director Matthew York shared that the federal mandate is to eradicate lead pipes by 2037 but the state of Minnesota has a goal or removing them sooner, by 2033 as lead can have negative health impacts and lead in water can result to lead poisoning.

“The initial project that will start in the spring of 2026 is to replace the lead service lines either on the city side and/or the private side of the individual business or residence line,” York said.

He added that there are some that are only private side, some that are only city side and some that are both.

York said an inventory is being done on the whole system. Some information was gathered a few years ago when the city replaced water meters and some was gathered with the help of old records.

“Everything we could find, we entered into a database with the state of Minnesota,” York said.

In total, there are 9,302 public and private service lines in the city. There are 7,471 known copper or plastic service lines and 547 known lead or galvanized service lines that need to be replaced. However, there are 1,284 service lines that are unknown.

“The second part of this is to get confirmation of what those are,” York said.

In the letter, there are pictures of what a plastic, copper, lead and galvanized service line looks like so people can find their water main and determine what they have. They are then asked to share that information, including a photo, with the city so it can enter the information into the database and better prepare for and proceed with the next stage of the project.

If someone has a known lead service line, they’ve already been made aware of it. Most of the lead service lines are in older homes. However, some have been replaced over the years when road work has been done.

The city received over $5 million in initial response from the state for the project. The contract with NPL (National Pipe Line) came in at $6.7 million so additional money has been requested by the city.

“Since it’s a state-mandated project we’re pretty sure we’ll get the money needed to complete the project,” York said.

If many of the unknown service lines are determined to be lead or galvanized, the city would have to request more funds.

If after finding and reporting a lead pipe in their home or business, a person will be contacted by NPL.

There will be no cost to people who have a lead pipe in their home or business, however, there could be minimal disruptions to their home or workplace during the replacement process.

“All of that will be explained by the contractor to the residents on a case-by-case basis,” York said. “Agreements have to be signed by the city, the contractor and the resident before.”

In the event that someone refuses to have their lead pipe replaced for some reason, York pointed out this would be their one opportunity to have it replaced at no cost.

“We’re thinking that it’s probably around $8,000 to $10,000 to replace on their own,” York said.

He said they city is in the process of planning the first of several community educational session which will be held in the future.

Any questions can be emailed to SouthCentralMNLeadService@bolton-menk.com with “Fairmont LSL” in the subject line.