Evansville Water and Sewer Utility aims to remove all lead service lines by 2034

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WEHT) — Evansville Water and Sewer Utility says they're hoping its an over estimation, but around 3000 homes in the city could be connected to service lines containing lead.

"We're hope to get far enough along by the end of 2025 to be able to have a good estimate of what is going to be required and how many service lines are going to have to be replaced," says Vic Kelson, EWSU's Executive Director.

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A public meeting shared where they will begin on the issue. Officials say resources are limited, so they thought it would be best to start with the protection of children; They'll spend the Spring and Fall of 2025 analyzing drinking taps at child care facilities. The Summer will be dedicated to elementary schools.

Officials say the company began inventory on service lines months ago, but they don't have a lot of information on what they're made of.

"We sent letters to every single customer explaining that we're involved in this service line inventory. None of the letters that we sent back say that you actually have a lead service line. We haven't identified all of the service lines yet," says Kelson.

In relation to houses, Neighborhoods built between 1930 and 1960, and any lines installed before 1987, are at higher risk.

One person says his parents home was built in 1934 and began helping out after they retired in 1977.

"I had a feeling that lead would be a problem. Coming here today, It was really useful to kind of get a lay of the ground about how they're approaching it. That was a great. I was interested in how lines would be covered between the street, and the house because I was aware that the city wasn't going to cover that necessarily," says Peter Miller, an Evansville resident.

Officials say the utility owns the line to the curb stop and homeowners are in charge of the remaining, but you can call EWSU's customer service. Officials say someone will come out to do testing.

The Vanderburgh County Health Department answered questions about lead exposure, and EWSU says people are in good hands.

"When we treat our water, we do everything we can to make sure that it's not going to be corrosive. It's not going to dissolve lead, even if you do have lead pipe in your home," says Kelson.