This screen grab from the City of Minneapolis website shows houses in the Bottineau neighborhood and the various types of water supply pipes leading to them. Homes with a red cross have lead pipes and are eligible for replacement. Blue dots indicate copper pipes and yellow triangles are pipes of unknown composition. (City of Minneapolis)
If you live in the Bottineau neighborhood, you may have received a letter from the City of Minneapolis, telling you that your home has been identified as having a lead pipe leading from your house to the street. No need to worry — the city is going to replace it, free of charge.
It’s the result of a bill authored and carried in the Legislature by Rep. Sydney Jordan. Signed into law by Gov. Tim Walz in May 2023, it appropriates $240 million to remove all the lead pipes in the state by 2043. That sum is matched by $215 million made available to Minnesota through the 2021 federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Minneapolis officials have decided to begin replacements in the Northside and Southside Green Zones. The western part of Bottineau, a few streets in from the river, plus 22nd Ave. NE is included in the Northside zone as well as western portions of Marshall Terrace, Sheridan and St. Anthony West. These areas were identified as areas with lower-income residents and other disadvantaged communities and areas with children with elevated blood lead levels.
The city is coordinating replacement of lead service lines with other capital improvement projects for the most efficient use of grant funding.
Mattie Croaston, communications and outreach coordinator for Minneapolis Public Works, said the city has identified 40,000 homes with lead service lines, approximately 5,000 of them in Northeast.
This year, Minneapolis is on target to replace 400 lines and expects to replace 1,000 in 2025. The city started replacement in the Hawthorne, Phillips and Stevens Square/
Loring Heights neighborhoods. Replacement requires the property owner’s consent.
A letter to residents begins, “the City has determined that as of October 24th, 2024, the water pipe [called a service line] that connects your home or business to the water main is made from lead. People living in homes with a lead service line may have an increased risk of exposure to lead from their drinking water.” Although this sounds chilling, the city wants to assure residents that their drinking water is safe.
If you want to take precautions, however, let the cold-water faucet run until you feel that the water is as cold as it will get. Run the water for 2-3 minutes if you have a lead water line. If you need hot water, heat it after it comes out of the faucet. Use only cold water for drinking, cooking and baby formula. You can also use a water filter — just make sure it’s capable of removing lead.
You can get a free water testing kit from the city: https://www.minneapolismn.gov/government/programs-initiatives/lead-testing/water-lead-test-kit/.
According to the Bottineau Neighborhood Association newsletter, if your pipe should break or leak before the city gets to you, you should call 311 and the Water Department will come out to help.
You can stay up to date on the progress of lead line replacement at https://www.minneapolismn.gov/government/projects/lead-service-lines/. To see if your home has a lead service pipe, see https://www.minneapolismn.gov/resident-services/utility-services/water/water-quality/waterquality-lead/plumbing-faucets/lead-service-line-map.
Typical home-to-street water service hookup. (City of Minneapolis)