Green Bay Water Utility celebrates lead water pipe replacement project completion

GREEN BAY (WLUK) -- An effort to remove all of the lead pipes owned by the Green Bay Water Utility is complete.

The five-year project wrapped on the city's east side Tuesday morning.

At a ceremony right in the middle of the 1,100 block of Emilie Street, Green Bay Water Utility General Manager Nancy Quirk made it official.

"I am so happy and proud today of what this utility has accomplished. This is a day of celebration of a job we set out to complete nearly five years ago," said Nancy Quirk, Green Bay Water Utility General Manager.

Crews replaced the very last utility-owned lead pipes on Tuesday.

"Not only did we get 1782 lead services out of the ground, we also got 247 lead services that were owned by the properties out of the ground," she said.

Quirk says low lead levels were found in the water for decades, but she says the lead poisoned water in Flint, Michigan meant pipes in Green Bay would likely be replaced as well.

"We were forward-thinking. We want to proactively do this. We were not under any consent order, or anything. The utility just said this is the right thing to do, let's get it out, and we did," she said.

She says customer rate increases, grants, and Lambeau Field tax credits helped pay for the $6 million project. Deb Weaver lives in the house on the corner. She says she's proud to be the last customer to get new water pipes.

"Oh, I'm excited. I love Green Bay. This is just another example of what makes it a great community," said Deb Weaver, Green Bay.

Green Bay Water Utility officials say they will keep testing lead levels in the city's drinking water in the coming years.