Lead Water Service Replacement
Removing Lead from Waterlines
Duluth has thousands of service lines made of lead. To replace these lines, the City set out to inspect and replace 500-1,000 lines each year until the work is complete. State and federal funding will defray the cost of replacement. LHB was awarded evaluation for 250 water service replacements in 2022 and 250 additional water service replacements in 2024. The 2022 scope specifically focused on open excavation replacements. Site constraints such as steep grades, non-typical site features, and retaining walls made the design challenging. The inspection team conducted detailed inspections of the interior and exterior of each home to provide the design team with sufficient collected information for the GIS database. The information was used to design plans for the service installation and surface restoration from the street to the connection point inside the home. The 2024 scope focused on water service replacement using horizontal directional drilling methods, minimizing site disturbance. This method accelerates the design process by reducing site specific restoration detailing between the water main and the service connection in the facility. LHB expanded GIS-enabled workflows to accelerate the design process for this scope.
Exterior Inspection of the Water Main Connection
LHB collects data during an inspection of the city water main’s connection into a home. The data collected for the GIS database accelerates the creation of design plans for service installation and surface restoration.
Interior Inspection of the Water Service Connection
The connection point inside the home is inspected for lead.
Site Challenges
Steep grades and non-typical site features such as retaining walls made the replacement design challenging. Horizontal directional drilling methods were used to minimize site disturbance.
