The city of Coloma has received a $198,000 grant from the state to identify lead water lines.
Mayor Marsha Hammond tells us the funds from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy come as the city seeks to comply with state rules requiring the removal of lead water lines.
“We’ve not ever had any of our water samples or anything come back with any trace of lead,” Hammond said. “We have around 121 lines that we really want to check because they are older lines and we just want to make sure. So we will be hiring a company that will bore down rather than have to dig up all those lines and test them and verify. We will actually be verifying every line in our system.”
Hammond says the city is working with Wightman to find a contractor that can go around checking all of those water lines. If lead lines are found, then work will start to replace them.
The city will send letters to all residents explaining what’s happening and a meeting is also being planned for people to ask questions.
Hammond says it’s a good thing the state set aside funds to help small cities do these studies because it would have been difficult to pay for locally.
All work must be completed by September 31 of 2026.
