(Radio Iowa) – The City of Sioux City will be applying for grants to help finance replacing lead pipes in water lines. Many Sioux City residents got a letter last November, warning that their property could have a water service line or a galvanized service line affected by lead. Brad Puetz, the utilities director for Sioux City, says an E-P-A mandate issued last October means those pipes must be replaced.

“Between now and 2027 we have to have a Lead Service Line Plan put together,” he says, “and that’s what kicks off all of the replacement.” Sioux City then will have until 2037 to complete the project. Puetz says the city has identified seven MILLION dollars in grant money that’s available.”That has to be applied for by December 31st of this year,” Puetz says. “That project is really going to entail picking 100 homes to start and that will really get us into the rhythm of how we want to pursue replacing those lines.”

Puetz says the city will pursue other grants as well and an unexpected classification may help with federal funding. “They’re considering Sioux City disadvantaged for this project,” Puetz says, “so 49% of whatever we apply for is forgiven and then the other 51% is some of the information that we’re going to have to seek council information on.” An initial estimate indicated there were 72-hundred locations in Sioux City where lead lines need to be replaced, but Puetz says that list has been reduced by a few hundred after water utility records were reviewed and lines were found not to contain lead.

It is the city’s responsibility to make sure the utility’s lead lines are replaced, but city council member Julie Schoenherr says the 100 property owners involved in the first wave of replacements will have to sign off on the lead pipe removal. “The homeowner, whether they live there or not, has to agree to it as well. That’s another caveat,” she says. “We don’t just go and do it. They have to agree to it.” Homeowners will be approached three times about the replacement and Puetz says it’s not clear what happens if they refuse.

Early last year, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird joined a 15-state coalition that sued the Biden Administration over this mandate, arguing it may force homeowners to pay to replace their own water lines if they contain lead and connect to a city-owned water utility line.