Montreal's budget to replace lead pipes in the water supply has also ballooned to $540 million, more than doubling its original budget of $248 million

Nine years into a plan to replace 69,000 lead pipes, the city has managed to replace just 9,000 pipes and connections.

City officials say they need to pick up the pace, and want to replace pipes leading to 5,000 homes per year over the next decade in order to meet a 2026 deadline.

City officials say they have a reason for the budget increase – when they drafted the plan to change pipes, they thought that most of the pipes could be replaced at the same time as water mains were replaced and roads were being rebuilt and repaved.

However, it turns out the majority of the pipes that need replacing are in locations where roads, and water mains, are in good shape, so the city is unable to save money through excavation on joint projects.

Since 2007, Montreal has also changed its main method of replacing water mains. Instead of digging up a street and laying new pipe, the city is able to use new techniques that cost much less than fixing a water main, but don't save money if each household connection has to be changed. 

The pipes the city is replacing are those that branch off from municipal water mains to the connection point with individual homes and buildings.

Montreal is only replacing the city side of those pipes, and homeowners are responsible for replacing their portion of any pipes that lie on their side of the property line. Last month Montreal sent notices to 128,000 homeowners advising them they may have lead pipes on their property.

Projet Montreal said that because most homeowners are willing to wait to replace lead pipes on their own properties, it makes no sense to rush into replacing the city's lead pipes.

“There’s no point in ripping up the city parts to get rid of the lead if we aren’t also at the same time, the owners of the houses or the duplexes, triplexes, also rip up their section of the pipe and get rid of the lead too,” said Projet Montreal councillor Peter McQueen, adding that the province should offer financial support to homeowners

“We’re hoping that Mayor Coderre has stood up for Montrealers and demanded that Quebec help Montrealers to get rid of all their lead in their water intakes,” he said.

If homeowners are willing to wait, city workers will replace their pipes at the same time as they replace the city-side of the connections, with cost estimates of $2,000 to $5,000 per home.

The average cost to replace the city's side of the pipe is about $3,000 if roadwork is being done, and $9,000 if it is not.

Most of the areas where lead pipes are being replaced were developed in the 1940s and 50s.

The push to replace lead pipes is because in 2001 Canadian health authorities changed the acceptable amount of lead permitted in drinking water, reducing it from 50 parts per billion to 10 parts per billion. (0.010 mg/L).

That is the same amount of lead permitted in Europe, but lower than what is allowed in the United States, which has a guideline of 15 parts per billion.

Extended exposure to low levels of lead can result in children with reduced IQ, slowed body growth, hearing problems and kidney damage.