Washington – The House passed a series of spending bills Thursday that included more than $2 million to help Syracuse and Onondaga County remove lead pipes that bring water to hundreds of local homes.
The bills set aside about $1.1 million for Syracuse and $1.1 million for the Onondaga County Water Authority to remove the line.
U.S. Rep. John Mannion, D-Geddes, and U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., pushed for the funding, saying it is urgent to protect children and families from lead poisoning.
The federal aid comes at a critical time for Syracuse, which failed to meet its promise last year to remove 3,000 lead water pipes throughout the city.
Instead, the city replaced only 700 main service lines, syracuse.com reported.
The slower pace means it could take a decade or more to remove all lead from Syracuse’s water pipes. The city has previously promised to solve the problem within five years.
Syracuse has about 14,000 lead pipes that bring drinking water from Main Street to local homes and businesses. The city also identified up to 13,000 other pipes of unknown material, meaning there could be more.
Although the city has known about the dangers of its lead water pipes for decades, city officials acted with greater urgency in 2024 after routine tests showed dangerously high levels of lead in more than two dozen homes.
The city admitted to wrongdoing, which it later charged two unscrupulous water company employees who failed to follow proper testing procedures.
OCWA said it does not know how many pipes it will be able to replace with federal funding.
OCWA Director Jeff Brown told syracuse.com the money will be used to replace pipes in older villages in its service territory, such as North Syracuse and Solvay.
The money earmarked for these projects was among more than $6.5 billion worth of local community projects tucked away three expense accounts members of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Senate is expected to pass the funding bills next week.
Among them is a $1 million allocation to Syracuse University to build a new science lab on campus.
The lab would explore ways to design and manufacture the next generation of semiconductors – the computer chips found in everything from mobile phones to home appliances.
The lab would complement SU’s work with Micron Technology, which plans to break ground on a $100 billion computer chip manufacturing complex in Clay City next week.
In October SU opened a Center for Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing as part of its commitment to Micron.
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