Dearborn still has 4,978 lead water lines to replace and 4,722 more it hasn’t checked, with a 2037 deadline to finish

DEARBORN — Dearborn has 4,978 confirmed lead water service lines still in the ground and 4,722 more whose material is unknown, city water advisers were told this month, and it has about 10 years to get the lead out.

The figures come from the minutes of the city’s Water System Advisory Council meeting on Oct. 21. Chairperson Tim Hawkins told the council the city’s inventory also counts 23,042 service lines with no known lead.

The numbers

Added together, that is 32,742 service lines. About 15% are confirmed lead and another 14% are unknown, so nearly 3 in 10 lines in the city could still need to come out.

About 500 lead lines have been replaced so far in 2026, according to the minutes. At that pace, the confirmed lines alone would take roughly another decade. The council discussed a requirement that the city write a plan by 2027 showing how it will remove all lead lines by 2037, and Hawkins said the city has an internal goal to finish ahead of the federal deadline.

The city aims to identify every unknown line by the end of 2027. Asked how accurate its inventory model has been, Hawkins reported a 99% success rate; the minutes do not say how that was measured.

Who pays

The city has secured $13 million for private-side replacements, to be spent over three years, and received $8 million in state funding, the minutes say. That $21 million works out to about $4,200 for each confirmed lead line, though the minutes do not say how many replacements the money will cover.

About 1,000 more lead lines are to be replaced through the city’s new road bond, alongside water main and road work. Dearborn has about 364 miles of water main. In 2028, the city plans to apply for a State Revolving Fund loan for the rest. Hawkins warned that future funding is expected to come with less principal forgiveness and be harder to get, which means more of the cost could land on the city’s own books.

What residents should know

Homes must be inspected before a lead line can be replaced. Earlier this month, some residents complained of notices threatening water shutoffs after they had tried to schedule inspections, according to the Downriver Sunday Times, as summarized by Dearborn Dispatch. City Senior Press Secretary Hassan Abbas told the newspaper that replacement lines are provided at no charge, that the city sends several notices over a month, and that the cost of a replacement could be shifted to residents who do not provide access during their neighborhood’s work window.

The same meeting touched on other water work. The city is paying the contractor Hydrocorp to help replace water meters, wants to phase out compound meters over time and is piloting cellular meter units in basements, where signal strength remains the biggest problem. Hawkins said the city’s sewer project covers about 12,000 homes and 900 acres. In October, the City Council also took a first step toward borrowing up to $70 million for sewer and water work tied to its road program.

Sources:
City of Dearborn, Water System Advisory Council meeting minutes, Oct. 21, 2026 (inventory counts, replacements, funding, 2027 and 2037 dates, road bond, SRF loan, meters, sewer project), https://dearborn.gov/sites/default/files/2026-10/Water%20Advisory%20Board%20Meeting%20Minutes%2010.21.2026.pdf
Dearborn Dispatch, “Dearborn reports nearly 5,000 remaining lead service lines,” Oct. 23, 2026 (Downriver Sunday Times report on inspection notices and Abbas’ comments), https://dearborndispatch.com/articles/dearborn-confirms-4-978-lead-water-lines-targets-2037-removal-mvkzp34w
Photo: IntangibleArts, “DC WASA lead water main,” Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0, cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DC_WASA_lead_water_main.jpg

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Tags: Dearborn · Lead service lines · Drinking water · Water System Advisory Council · Infrastructure · Taxpayers