Bridgeport completes lead line survey, patches public pool

BRIDGEPORT -- Superintendent of Public Works Stuart Dezellem advised the city council at its June 18 meeting that he has completed the lead line survey required by the state Department of Health.

‘I’ve got all the data entered into the Department of Health spreadsheet,” said Dezellem. “I went through 25 years of work orders and have supporting documentation to back up that we have galvanized line.”

The Lead Service Line Inventory and Replacement Program survey collects data from cities on whether any remaining lead water lines have been or are being replaced.

“There are 667 services in the lead line survey,” said Dezellem. “We have 22 homes that have what is designated an unknown service line material.”

Those are essentially the homes that were built in Bridgeport starting in the 1900s that were already here prior to Chief Joe Dam construction in 1948.

Dezellem said the city changed with the dam project.

“The engineers rolled in here and built the water system and the sewer system,” said Dezellem. “We were working off of wood stay pipes…until the contractor put in steel pipes.”

In the survey the service line is divided into two halves, the purveyor half (the city) from the water main to the water meter, and the customer half from the meter to the house.

“If any part of that is unknown, then the whole main is designated as an unknown material,” said Dezellem. “It is marked unlikely lead but still unknown.”

Homeowners with those unknown lines will be notified that the city will be checking those lines to determine composition. Using the city vac truck, public works can access the line just downstream of the water meter to verify the line material and update the survey.

Public Pool

The pool is up and running. A repair project largely eliminated earlier water loss issues.

Regrouting and sealing up cracks in the concrete wall seems to have stopped most of the water loss, said Dezellem. Once the pool was filled and the water level measured the following morning, the water loss was only about one-half inch.

Councilmember and pool manager Jackie Hentges reported that three new lifeguards recently completed and passed their training. They will join two others to staff the pool this summer.

Mike Maltais: 360-333-8483 or michael@ward.media