A permanent step toward removing lead from Pittsburgh's drinking water is underway in several neighborhoods as part of a much larger project the utility has undertaken to identify the extent of the problem and fix it.
Channel 11 was there Monday as Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority crews began work on Ruth Street in Mount Washington to remove lead service lines.
Over the next month, lines on several streets in Mount Washington and nearby Beltzhoover will be dug up and removed.
"The goal is to achieve between 1,500 and 2,000 replacements per year,” said Bob Weimar, interim executive director for PWSA.
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The agency singled out seven blocks where crews will replace water lines that carry water into homes from public mains.
Christine Mahoney, who lives on Mt. Washington, told Channel 11's Aaron Martin she is relieved the water lines are being replaced.
"Even with our animals it was a big concern,” Mahoney said. “We were giving them bottled water, buying her bottled water. It's kind of scary, even with us drinking it or just brushing our teeth."
It's estimated up to 25 percent of the city's water main service lines are made of lead.
The utility is still working to find out where all of its lead lines are located, examining thousands of water mains per year to determine if they're made of lead. So far they have found there is not one location in the city with significantly more lead lines compared with others.
The PWSA is hanging information on doors and providing testing kids to residents impacted by the work, so they can test the water and find out if their private line contains lead.
The PWSA is now spending between $20 million and 25 million per year on projects removing lead from the water.
"While we know it has had an effect on the rates, and will have an effect on the rates, these are critical infrastructure components that we need to upgrade so we don't continue to have the kinds of failures we've had,” Weimar said.
It’s a price Mahoney is willing to pay to keep her family safe.
"It's the first time they're actually doing something instead of just sitting around saying they're going to do it."