The Shelby Township based contractor is working with the city of Eastpointe on the Drinking Water Revolving Fund project, which involves installing a mile of 18-inch water main on Gratiot Avenue between 9 Mile and 8 Mile. A standard process that DiPonio Contracting supervisor Chris Maltese said came with few surprises and allowed his team to move in and get the job done.
“It’s been an ongoing project across the county really. Eastpointe has a large amount of lead water, which has been the driving force to replace the mains and bring clean water to the residents,” Maltese said.
Maltese mentioned his team has been working on the Revolving Fund project with the city since early January working on residential streets and installing a mile of 8-inch water main. That replacement involved 150 lead water services installing from the new main all the way to residents’ basements.
“These lead service installations made for some unique challenges that required planning ahead because every single house is different,” Maltese said. “Where it comes into the house, the basement layout or crawl space — there’s a lot of varying factors, which adds to the job, but this is where we pride ourselves in our team’s organization.”
The new main will replace the existing brass main — the main cause of lead in water. Maltese shared that cities built during war times had lead and copper on hand, and those became the main materials for pipes, but only to discover down the road the need for them to be replaced to protect the health of residents.
Slowly and methodically, the City of Eastpointe continues to replace lead water infrastructure as is required by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy. Senior project engineer Ryan Kern mentioned that 310 lead water services have already been replaced.
“EGLE is requiring that 5% of the city’s lead water services be replaced each year and the work from DiPonio puts us ahead of the game,” Kern said.
As the team at DiPonio Contracting continues with these crucial water main replacement projects, they are proactively taking steps towards preventing water main breaks, and enhancing the overall reliability of the water service.
DiPonio Contracting, Inc. is a diversified construction business with a reputation for completing projects safely, on time and within budget. Their business integrity has developed strong relationships and repeat business. They have extensive experience and an outstanding reputation with local government, DOT, municipal, commercial, and institutional projects. The employees at DiPonio Contracting are dedicated to detail and quality. To learn more about them, visit diponiocontracting.com or call their office at 586.997.4150.
