The partnership between Augustana College and the city of Rock Island, which had focused on identifying and replacing harmful lead pipes across the city, has moved into a new stage.
Over the summer, Augustana students helped the city of Rock Island by walking from house to house in an effort to identify the material of the water pipe underneath the house, known as the service line. Now, more students and professors are working to predict the remaining unknown materials and form a strategy for removing lead pipes.
Jason Upton is the Utility Superintendent for the city of Rock Island and supervises many of the actions taken in this partnership.
“When it was originally proposed through the state as ‘this is what you’re going to have to do’, I looked at it as a very big challenge given our workforce,” Upton said.
According to the Illinois Environmental Council, the Lead Service Line Replacement and Notification Act was passed in Illinois two years ago that mandated the state remove its harmful lead pipes.
“Illinois has more lead pipes than any other state in the nation, with at least 686,000 connecting homes to water mains,” according to the 2021 press release from the Illinois Environmental Council.
Rock Island needed to first identify which buildings have lead or galvanized service lines, and then plan a strategy for removal and funding.
“This partnership has enabled our workforce to keep doing what they do,” Upton said. “You know, most of our employees are already busy doing their jobs.”
Upton oversees processes such as the distribution of drinking water, including treatment and sanitation, as well as all of the infrastructure involved. Rock Island partnered with Augustana in order to manage the additional work of identifying service lines.
“We did receive a grant from the Illinois EPA for this project, a $50,000 grant,” Upton said.
But that grant applies only to the first task of identifying service lines in the city. In Rock Island, water first comes from the Mississippi River. It then is treated and sent out to the residents of the city.
“The way the water system works is, you have your water main that runs down the middle of the road and, as a city, we’re responsible for the water mains,” Upton said. “The homeowner is responsible for from the house to the main, but we’re looking for funding that can also come in and help cover that cost of replacement.”
Junior Bri Reagan works for the Upper Mississippi Center, an organization associated with Augustana that is involved in the work on this project. She helped with identifying pipe materials this summer, and assisted with community outreach.
“We went to community events, met with community leaders trying to hear what they think would be the best point of outreach in their areas,” Reagan said.
The city of Rock Island has partnered with Augustana. While each city in Illinois has taken a fairly distinct approach, Augustana emphasized communication with the city’s approximate 40,000 inhabitants.
Senior Bobby Inserra is on the football team and helped out during a one-day event in August. Along with Inserra, over 130 players canvassed in the city in an effort to help residents identify the service line leading to their houses.
“A lot of people were super welcoming and inviting, but some people were like, why are you looking at our pipes?” Inserra said. “Afterward we all got ice cream.”
Rock Island has two years to finalize the plan to remove the lead pipes after inventory is complete, and 20 years to remove lead pipes from the city, according to the Lead Service Line Replacement and Notification Act.
