ESCANABA — Escanaba’s lead service line replacement projects are winding down for the season.

November saw the installation of 12 new lead service lines, bringing the total lines replaced to 620. In addition, the city has replaced a total of 10,122 feet of water main as part of the project.

“I think there’s one more lead service line going in today, and then it’s all just restoration and patching up for the year for water work,” Escanaba Water and Wastewater Superintendent Jeff Lampi told the Press earlier this week.

The city has repeatedly reminded residents that the water for all city residents is well-below levels identified as dangerous by the state or federal government. The lead service line replacements, however, are the result of a state mandate that is largely due to the Flint Water Crisis.

In 2014, the city of Flint changed the source of its water from Detroit’s system to the Flint River as a cost-saving measure. The new water was more corrosive, and Flint’s aging water system did not have adequate corrosion control. The result was a substantial increase in the amount of lead in the water, with some neighborhoods seeing levels as high as 15 parts per billion.

New federal and state standards issued after the crisis set the maximum amount of lead in water at 12 parts per billion. Extensive sampling in Escanaba has shown the city’s water is at 1.0 parts per billion — a fact the city credits to an effective corrosion control program.

However, the state implemented a mandate after the crisis that requires the replacement of all lead service lines in municipalities across the state. The mandate defines lead service lines as all lines that contain lead or are downstream from sources of lead in the water distribution system, such as lead goosenecks. It also requires that lead service lines be replaced up to the meter, typically located in the basements of buildings, and leaves the city footing the bill.

In Escanaba, a total of 3,572 confirmed and suspected lead goosenecks were identified in a recently-completed distribution system materials inventory. An additional 322 galvanized lines located on the property owner’s side of the system were identified as being previously connected to a lead gooseneck. The state mandate requires that all 3,894 service lines — roughly 70% of the 5,380 total service lines in the city — be replaced.

The lead service line replacement work may be wrapping up for the year, but according to Lampi, residents should expect to see crews out working on the city’s wastewater system. The lift station at the end of Ludington Street, near the easternmost end of the Municipal Dock, is currently undergoing work that is expected to continue throughout the winter months.

Lampi said there will be a few days worth of road closures near the project in the coming weeks. After that, there should be no real impact on motorists or residents related to the lift station project.