NEWS

Toronto Water tasked with designing loan program

GETTING OUT THE LEAD
GETTING OUT THE LEAD: Both city and privately-owned pipes may be contributing to lead in drinking water — and to dangerous levels in some local areas.

The city will be developing a loan program for homeowners who want to replace lead water pipes on their property.

During its August meeting city council voted in favour of having general manger Lou Di Gironomo of Toronto Water come up with the program.

At the same time, council also opted to develop a publicly accessible database of lead service line statuses, so Torontonians can keep track of whether lead service lines leading up to their properties have been replaced or are scheduled to be replaced.

This comes months after Toronto Water released data on May 20 that showed 13 percent of households in Toronto had unsafe levels of lead in their drinking water.

The issue received extensive media attention, including coverage in the June editions of the Town Crier.