Denver Water lead program

Opportunity

In March 2018, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment designated phosphate-based treatment as the Optimal Corrosion Control Treatment for Denver Water’s system under the Lead and Copper Rule.

Denver Water proposed a variance to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that would allow it to implement its Lead Reduction Program Plan, which includes lead service line replacements and other measures to reduce lead levels in drinking water for its customers who have service lines or plumbing that contain lead.

The program was approved in December 2019 by the Environmental Protection Agency and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, and the program kicked off in March 2020.

Solution

Denver Water retained us to provide program management support services to develop and implement its lead reduction program plan.

Our solution included defining the scope of the program and developing the program framework. We deployed our innovative digital solutions Field Inspection Tool (MMFIT) and Fieldbook to combine datasets, organize data and documents by program element, and produce dashboards showing key data visually.

MMFIT allows field workers to enter data on service lines into their laptop or tablet, map the data visually using geographic information systems (GIS), and automatically populate a GIS database and work order system for allocating resources.

In the course of our work, we developed digital solutions that use machine learning to help determine which service lines are made of lead, and target the communities and customers where the need for replacement is most urgent. Although these solutions were not applied to Denver Water’s program, they will be invaluable in future lead remediation programs.

We worked with Denver Water to develop specific program actions to address health equity and environmental justice. Our program controls team coordinated with team leaders to review schedules, budgets, and expenditures. The team also helped identify properties at risk for lead service lines.

Our communications plan reached out to all stakeholders to ensure accurate and timely updates.

Outcome

Denver Water tracked or managed an inventory of 64,000 to 84,000 lead service lines. The utility distributed more than 100,000 drinking water filters to homes with lead service lines and certain homes with lead solder, and is replacing more than 7% or 4,477 lead service lines each year, with the goal of fully replacing all lead service lines within 15 years.

As of January 2024, Denver Water reported that it had replaced more than 21,000 customer-owned lead service lines with new, lead-free copper lines — at no direct cost to the customer.