The board of the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority voted yesterday to curtail a multimillion-dollar program to replace all of the water system's lead service pipes, saying that the project was expensive and that other measures had reduced lead in the city's water.

The board passed a resolution to suspend the large-scale replacement program but said it would continue replacing public lead pipes when water mains are being fixed or, in certain cases, when residents want to replace the private section of lead pipe going into their homes.

David McLaughlin, the utility's acting director of engineering and technical services, said the move would save WASA about $197 million over the next seven years.

"I think it's a solid move," said D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), who heads the committee that oversees WASA. "I have pressed for it for months and months and months. We had expert testimony that the . . . program was not achieving the desired objective and may have actually been having adverse effects." He added, "It was just money down the drain."

In other action yesterday, the WASA board approved a rate increase of 7.5 percent, down from the 8.5 percent requested by its management. The increase takes effect Oct 1. It is the authority's sixth increase since 2003, when rates were reduced by 5.25 percent. WASA is at the start of a 10-year $3.1 billion infrastructure-improvement program.

Full Story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/04/AR2008090403613.html