City Council members are planning ways to address high levels of lead in the drinking water of some Galesburg homes.
City Manager Todd Thompson says Galesburg tap water exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency’s standard for action last year. Of 30 samples, four did not meet the EPA’s standard last year.
In an email, Ward 5 Alderman Peter Schwartzman says he was alarmed by Illinois numbers that show one in 20 Knox County children under the age of six have excessive lead in their blood.
Ward 7 Alderman Jeremy Karlin sides with a suggestion from Schwartzman to implement a program that would replace lead pipes in homes.
“I do believe that the city should have a program that assists homeowners in the cost of replacing the service line,” Karlin says, “and I believe that the city is working on that.”
Thompson says a program exists already that helps with the cost of replacing leaking pipes with ones that are not lead based.
“We’ll provide labor to do the job and then the homeowner will only have to pay for the materials,” he says, “which reduces the $2,000 or $3,000 job down to perhaps $300 or $400.”
Ward 4 Alderman Corine Andersen says she’d support a program that looks closely at where people are affected most by high lead levels and works to remove pipes as well as lead-based paint there.
