 100vw, 610px “/> Bennington Town Office. Photo by Emma Co..ton / VTDigger</p>
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Mostly in response to the Flint, Michigan water crisis, federal lawmakers drafted the Water Infrastructure Fund Transfer Act, which will allow states to transfer money from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, which is primarily used for infrastructure projects aimed at improving the health of creeks and lakes to the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund.
“As far as we know, this is a golden opportunity to transfer that money,” said Megan Young, director of the drinking water capacity program at the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation. “It has never happened before and I understand there are no plans for it.”
The project became official when the state finalized a use plan for the two water funds on July 16.
Construction will begin in the fall; The work is expected to take several years.
The responsibility for the replacement would otherwise have been transferred to the residents – the pipes are privately owned – at a cost of between USD 5,000 and USD 15,000 per installation.
Although lead can leak into drinking water in utility lines, which can be harmful to health, Bennington was one of the first in the nation to take corrosion protection measures to coat pipes to prevent lead from getting into drinking water. The city also removed all of its main aqueducts that contained lead.
The next step is to replace the lead pipes in homes.
“No lead levels are safe,” said Young. “Anything we can do to make sure people don’t get a clue is what we should all strive for.”
Chief Executive Officer Donald Campbell said the funding was a huge step forward for the city.
“Bennington residents are delighted to be ahead of many communities in getting rid of lead water pipes,” he said. “This grant is an incredible boost to the last, most difficult attempt to make individual compounds lead-free.”
When officials at the Department of Environmental Protection learned of the change in funding, they immediately contacted Bennington. Since 2017, the state has been granting MSK Engineering and Design grants that were hired by the city and whose team has determined the exact locations of the service lines.
These grants, granted through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, were offered to communities interested in mapping the extent of the leaded infrastructure in their drinking water systems.
“In Vermont, an 11 million dollar project is huge for us,” said Terisa Thomas, senior program manager, water funding for the Department of Environmental Conservation. “We needed a project that was already in the works. So we identified Bennington as a lead candidate because they had a lead identification plan that gave a very thorough view of their system.”
In 2017, MSK engineers began some sort of detective work, searching a patchwork of records detailing the materials used in the city and private infrastructure.
“They ranged from initial real estate books going back hundreds of years to field notes informally scribbled in notebooks by operators,” said Patrick Smart, an engineer at MSK. “There is a wide range of information and its reliability.”
 100vw, 305px “/> supply line. Courtesy of MSK</p>
<p>As engineers collect more information through sample surveys, surveys of residents, and searching for records, the project becomes easier to manage.</p>
<p>“Ultimately, there is just a lot of uncertainty,” said Smart. “In some cases the records are very clear: oh yes, this is lead and no one believes it has ever been replaced. There are others that people think, oh, we replaced that whistle. We also try to develop a higher level of security through the design process. “</p>
<p>The engineers reached out to residents via a combination of mailings, phone calls, and door-to-door contacts, asking if they knew the history of their service lines and if they would like a replacement. </p>
<p>The city now has an interactive, searchable map on its website that lists the likely locations of leading service lines on privately owned property. </p>
<p>In the coming months, project leaders will begin work on 140 properties in three areas of Bennington. </p>
<p>Lead pipes do not have all of these properties. The selection of the properties corresponds to a large number of descriptions in the data records. From there, the engineers evaluate the accuracy and process of their identification methods.</p>
<p>In all 140 houses, the engineers will carry out an excavation on the curb, in which the service line in question is divided into city-owned and private-owned, with a shut-off valve separating the two. They examine each side of the pipe for lead. </p>
<p>The initial phase includes sampling the water quality – largely left to the residents as Covid-19 prevents engineers from entering houses – as well as a visual assessment of the line by the resident. </p>
<p>These initial processes will make subsequent phases of the project more efficient as the team determines which type of assessment is most accurate, Smart said. </p>
<p>Once a lead pipe is identified, the team will determine on a case-by-case basis what the excavation process will look like. </p>
<p>“We have a field representative who conducts surveys to get detailed information about the existing conditions so we know what other utilities or infrastructures the contractor should be ready for when trying to replace these pipes,” said Smart. </p>
<p>Separate distance plans are required for each of the 1,575 lines. For example, some pipes are located under the roots of old trees or driveways. </p>
<p>“You really don’t want to upset things when you don’t have to,” said Liam McRae, an MSK engineer. </p>
<p>Water sample test kits are also sent to residents so that they can assess the level of lead in their drinking water. </p>
<p>The city’s ability to fund the project is an anomaly in the state. Bennington officials learned in the 1970s that blood samples from children were high in lead, and the resulting research gave them knowledge of the lead infrastructure in the city. </p>
<p>“Many other churches don’t have the detailed information about something that was put in the ground 60 to 70 years ago,” said Young. “They have no idea. That is why Bennington took these steps primarily because they were aware of it.”</p>
<p>Campbell realizes the size of the project.</p>
<p>“This is a huge federal dollar investment in our community,” he said, “and I am thrilled that it will directly help improve health and real estate values.”</p>
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