LACKAWANNA, NY — On Monday, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced $5 million for Erie County to replace lead pipes in the region, with $129 million in total for NYS.
Buffalo has 40,000 total service lines that use lead pipes, and replacing those could cost up to $450 million.
"Because we're an older community, we have one of the oldest water systems, so there''s unfortunately plenty of lead in our pipes and we have to find out where it is," said Schumer.
Currently, there is a backlog of 12,000 service lines that have lead in the county.
Senate Majority Leader Schumer says he is working to ensure the kids and families in our neighborhoods have safe drinking water.
"I'm going to keep working to get you the dollars until there is no lead pipes left in Erie County," said Schumer.
The Erie County Water Authority says households can get their pipes tested to ensure they have safe drinking water.
"The overall project is going to be extremely challenging but our customers can play an important role in this process if you have an older home from the 1930's or earlier help us verify your service line material with a call to our customer service line we can get your service line identified," said Leonard Kowalski, Executive Engineer with the ECWA.
You can test your service lines by calling 716-849-8444.
