By SUE SUCHYTA
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN – Residents who received notices taped to their doors to schedule a water service line inspection inside their home received another notice a week later threatening a water shut-off for non-compliance.
The purpose of the inspections is to identify incoming water lead service lines inside a residence, with the goal of swapping out the lead lines for copper piping.
One resident in the 5000 block of Mead Street said they did schedule an appointment, but the inspector never showed up. They then received the second notice threatening a water shut-off.
The wording on the second notice seemed both ironic and punitive, since the current city administration considers water a “basic human right,” and does not shut off residential water service for non-payment of bills.
The Department of Public Works, run by Director Tim Hawkins, oversees the lead line replacement program. Hawkins did not respond by deadline to questions about who developed the wording regarding the threatened water shut-off on the second notice, and the timeline under which a cut-off would be implemented.
Dearborn Senior Press Secretary Hassan Abbas said the city, as mandated by state and federal laws, must ensure clean water for all, and must do routine inspections of home water inlets to ensure compliance with clean drinking water standards.
“This means that when the city begins water line replacements in a neighborhood, all residents affected by that water service line have to be inspected in order to be scheduled for replacement,” he said. “The city provides multiple notices over a month’s period asking residents to schedule an inspection of their water meter connection to ensure clean water comes to their home.
“Failure to do so comes with water shutoff notices, to ensure resident safety, as dictated by city ordinance.”
Abbas said a replacement water line, if needed, is made available at no cost to the resident. However, if a resident does not make their domicile available for an inspection within the time window of the work in the area, the cost of the replacement water line could be transferred to the resident.