UD students help Wilmington find leading pipes – Delaware’s first media

The Delaware University’s research project narrows the number of lead pipes in Wilmington, which needs replacement, potentially saving millions on the city.

Although lead pipelines were banned in 1986, many water systems – such as Wilmington’s – still have any. Last year, the Biden administration required all lead pipes to be replaced by 2037.

But with about 74,000 pipes in the city, finding those who need replacement can be a discouraging and expensive task. To help narrow this number, a crew of UD students spent one year, looking at tens of thousands of work orders dating almost a century.

“These books, which are on the sixth floor, the city district building, are those big books where plumbers and inspectors would intensively record on the day they came there in 1936, say, there was a leading pipe and they replaced it With a galvanized pipe, “said Gerald Kaufman, director of the UD Water Resources Center. He says the students have found that less than three percent of the city pipes – about 2000 – are leading and need to replace. This saves a lot of work and money on the city.

“According to my estimates, this joint effort between the city and the university saves about $ 15 million to the city,” Kaufman said.

The project was headed by the Associated Director of the Water Resources Center Martha Navaes.