Topeka leaders approve $74 million lead pipe replacement plan
TOPEKA (KSNT) - The Topeka City Council voted to allocate nearly $75,000,000 to fund a lead pipe replacement plan.
At Tuesday's city council meeting, Topeka leaders passed a resolution to amend the 2025-2034 Capital Improvement Plan and 2025-2027 Capital Improvement Budget (CIB) to include the Lead Service Line Replacement Project. This vote approved the total budget of the project for the amount of $74,280,000.
The council also voted to consider applying for a $74,280,000 loan from the Kansas Public Water Supply Loan Fund by Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE). The loan will have an estimated $37,585,680 in loan forgiveness with payments to occur over a 20-year period.
Both resolutions were passed 8-1. Councilwoman Karen Hiller voted against the resolutions.
The project plan will take approximately three years to finalize, and have a compliance period of 10 years. Topeka Utilities Director Sylvia Davis said at the meeting that although the budget is more than $74,000,000, she anticipates about half to less of that budget will be used.
As of now, at least 4,000 pipes are being considered for complete replacement. If you have lead in your lines, you won't have to pay out of pocket for the repairs.
"With this ruling and this effort, the city is committing to funding those improvements to the structures," Davis said. "So, now the city is saying we're going to go in and replace our side of that service line, and we're going to help the customer finish replacing their private side of that service line."
Residents who have any lead containing lines or potential lead containing lines will soon receive a letter with information on what to do.
City of Topeka officials announced in October that more than 1,000 lead and galvanized service lines need to be replaced in the Capital City. This survey and the current push to replace these pipes follows earlier recommendations by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Biden-Harris Administration.
For more local news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here.