4,500 properties linked to city water lines with lead pipes
in 2005 when the Boston Water and Sewer Commission, which had recently finished replacing water meters in most Boston properties, counted 4,500 properties linked to city water lines with lead pipes. (See 2005 Globe story.)
You can see a list of properties fed by lead pipe in Boston, Jamaica Plain, Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, Roslindale, Allston, Brighton, Brookline, Charlestown, East Boston, South Boston, West Roxbury and Hyde Park. , etc.
I tried to find an online source for the amount of lead water pipes currently in service almost 13 year later. As best I can tell from the BWSC map, 4143 properties are still fed by lead pipes today.
There has been much discussion about childhood lead exposure
There has been much discussion about childhood lead exposure including stories in the news about the Boston Public School system investigating and trying to mitigate lead exposure in school. I would think this would be a very important issue for Boston landlords. Not only is there a liability issue, but with this database being public record – the value of the real estate is diminished until the issue is mitigated.
It seems we need to do more as a city to help lower income areas sort this out. The City of Boston does have a program that will credit homeowners $2000 to replace the lead pipes if they use a sanctioned contractor. However, given the BWSC map data – it doesn’t seem that it’s working effectively. I’m no journalist…so I welcome comments indicating what I am seeing is wrong. I did not contact the BWSC directly for comment.