By the fall of each year, Denver Water plans to have identified work areas for the following year. Several factors drive when and where service lines are replaced. Denver Water prioritizes communities who are most vulnerable and at-risk from lead exposure, particularly infants and children. Areas with large numbers of facilities that serve these populations, such as schools and daycares, are prioritized. Other determining factors include areas with the highest concentration of lead service lines, underserved neighborhoods and coordination with other known construction activity.

Once work areas are identified, Denver Water will determine the timing for individual properties in that work area. Once a property has been identified for a service line replacement, Denver Water will send additional information about the replacement process and next steps. This notification typically comes a month or two before the anticipated replacement date.

Outside of the Lead Reduction Program, Denver Water will also replace any customer-owned lead service line with a copper water line, at no direct charge to the customer, when discovered during a main replacement project.
 

Through the Lead Reduction Program, Denver Water is accelerating the pace of replacing customer-owned lead service lines at no direct cost to the customer. When initially launched, all lead service lines were slated to be removed by 2035. 

As of December 2022, newly awarded federal funding allows the Lead Reduction Program to be further accelerated and completed in less time. For every 4,500 additional lead service lines replaced using these funds, the overall length of the program will be one year shorter.

Denver Water is also replacing lead service lines when discovered during pipe replacement work or other projects.  

Denver Water offers a partial reimbursement to help customers who choose to replace their lead service lines at their own expense. Approved applicants can receive a one-time partial reimbursement payment of $3,800. Please review information on our website on the process to replace the lead service line and the application for a reimbursement. Note that lines replaced prior to the program’s launch on April 29, 2020, are not eligible for reimbursement.

Three years after it started, the Lead Reduction Program is getting a big boost from more than $76 million in federal funding. The funding will help fast-track the program, replacing thousands more customer-owned lead service lines in the next few years than had been originally anticipated.

On Oct. 7, 2022, the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority Board approved $76,123,628 million for Denver Water to use for lead service line replacements. Funds will come to Denver Water from the Colorado Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (CDWSRF), which is receiving money to distribute from the federal bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law by President Joe Biden in November 2021.

The CDWSRF program is administered by the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority with funding provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Lead Reduction Program and associated lead service line replacements will provide water quality benefits by removing lead in drinking water at its primary source for communities in the Denver Water service area.

All funding will go directly to performing lead service line replacements. Denver Water already planned to replace nearly 5,000 service lines each year. With this funding, Denver Water expects to replace an additional 3,000 to 5,000 lines in 2023.

The Lead Reduction Program will continue to:

• Replace all lead service lines at no direct cost to customers.
• Control lead corrosion with pH and alkalinity treatment.
• Determine the locations of the lead service lines that connect homes and buildings to water mains.
• Provide a water pitcher filter  and replacement filters certified to remove lead to customers with lead service lines.
• Conduct extensive community outreach and education.

Find out more about federal funding on TAP.