MONTE VISTA – Monte Vista City Council held a meeting on Thursday, Jan. 2, updated the council on lead and copper line compliance in the city, and the costs associated with these lines if found in the city. 

Public Works Director Rob Vance provided the council with some background. 

“I don’t know if you remember hearing on the news a couple of years back, about Michigan and their problems with their water system. Basically, what they did was they were getting their water from another municipality, but they figured the rates were too high, so they talked to another municipality. The other municipality proposed a lower price, so they switched thinking they were doing a good thing for the consumers. Unfortunately, the composition of the two water sources were different, so once they introduced the new system water into their distribution system it caused their lines to be scaled, which means all the scale and stuff that was there started to come off and get into their system,” he said. 

Vance said that most of their lines ended up with lead in them and it basically polluted the entire community in Michigan. 

“I think we all know what lead can do to people’s health,” he said. 

Vance explained that the story about Michigan was the start of everything and that in 2021 the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), started a lead and copper rule, with provisions that they were trying to redo, with a deadline of late 2024. 

“This rule is still very fluid, changing almost monthly. Unfortunately, we do have some serious financial burdens that the city may have to take, depending on the outcome, of our findings with the lead,” he said. 

Vance said that in August of 2023, the federal lead and copper rule revisions were adopted into the Colorado primary drinking regulations, as regulation 11, stating that there are new requirements for water systems. 

“They require an inventory of service lines connected to the distribution system. The service line inventory serves as a backbone for many other requirements of the LCRR,” he said. 

As of Oct. 16, they city had to inventory all their service lines within the city, and areas just outside of the city that they provide water for too, adding that by definition, the service line is the line that extends from the city’s main to a building frontage. 

“In our case, we are separated by a curb stop. The city maintains from the city main to a curb stop, and from the curb stop to the home or business, the maintenance is the responsibility of the property owner.” 

According to Vance, under that rule, in the inventory, the city must know about both sides though.   

The city’s system has a little over 2,700 taps. Vance explained that they were able to exclude all taps on homes or businesses that were built after 1988 though, because that was when Colorado adopted the no lead requirement in the state. 

“We tried some other things to try to get the information from earlier times, but unfortunately our data cards from the 50’s and 60’s didn’t classify what materials were used in the lines,” he said. 

Vance said the city contracted with 120 Water, a water management and testing system.  He said that he also had crews out potholing curb stops and meter pits last year, to help try to figure out what the city has on their side in terms of lead measurements, and what is also on the customers’ side.  

A pothole check refers to a methodical process of digging small test holes, called "potholes," at specific intervals along the path of a buried water line so it can be inspected. 

Vance said that they ended up submitting the inventory as 1,726 unknown lines out of the 2,700 taps that are in town. He said the city had to give notice to all residents that had an unknown line by Nov. 15, 2024. All notices went out, and there have been about 300 responses. 

Vance said so far that they don’t have any lead lines. 

“From what I have found, a lot of manufacturers from the research I was doing, stopped using lead in a lot of their fittings,” he said. 

But there is still more work to be done. 

Vance said as the city moves into 2025, they are going to switch from 120 Water to using Sunrise Engineering, by way of a grant, for further help with the compliance.  

Vance said the next step is to evaluate and do a systematic pothole check. 

“It’s basically a determination of a set perimeter of 20 percent of our system based on the years of building. For us most of the buildings were built in the 50s and 60s, so we are going to have to take 20 percent of those 1,700 taps, and pothole those. Another rule has also changed after we started this. The rule is you’re not allowed to use your meter, or the curb stop, as the basis. You have to plug out of the main and the property where it goes into the house. Those are the two locations,” Vance said. 

City Manager GiGi Dennis asked Vance if the assumption could be made that if the homes on one block were all built before 1988, that that particular block would all be in compliance.  

Vance said in simple terms yes, but unfortunately the state wants the city to do what’s called “Predictive Model,” and does require an engineer, to pull that same information and put it into a computer program, and from there the state picks a random address that the city must then go pothole at the address to check.  

Vance said that property owners do not have the obligation to test either, that the obligation falls to the city. Vance stated that so far, they have found that they do not have any lead in the system though, “We do not have any detectable lead in our system so far.” 

Vance said if lead is found they would have to replace the lines with new service lines, at least the city’s side, but they would also have to help the property owner if they had no way to pay to replace their side. 

“The newest rule, that changes almost monthly, is that if the property owner does not have the means to replace their own line, we have to provide them with a finance option to replace it, if they can’t afford to do their own line. So, the city would have to find a way to help finance this, if we find the lead exposure,” he said. 

Vance stated that although it may not be a worry until 2027, one thing that he is worried about is that it could cause the city some financial burden in 2027. 

For more information or to set up an appointment to have lines tested, residents can contact Michelle Bradford at the city by calling 719-852-2692.