TROY – It is tedious and time-consuming, but removing the lead pipes from beneath the ground in Troy is absolutely necessary.

The program received a huge boost on Monday.

Many of the pipes buried beneath the Collar City streets date back to before the Civil War, to when Millard Fillmore was president. Many of those pipes are known to be loaded with lead contamination, which has been delivering toxic drinking water to residents.

“I’ve long been the loudest voice in the room to get the lead pipes out of our community,” said Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D – NY) . “It’s been a passion of mine.”

That passion became a $13 million payout for the city. Schumer made the delivery standing in front of an active work site on Campbell Avenue Monday morning, providing money from the bipartisan Infrastructure Law earmarked to eliminate lead pipes.

The award is $8.9 million in grant funding and $3.9 million in interest free loan,” Schumer pointed out. “That will put us on a path to a safer and healthier future.”

The city has actually already removed and replaced pipes at about 200 homes, but 1,400 others have also tested positive for lead contamination.

“The coordinating you can only imagine is very crazy, chaotic, and complex,” said Troy Mayor Carmella Mantello.

Each of the 1,400 homes will cost between $7,000 and $10,000, Mantello said. Each job takes about a half a day. She’s hoping and projecting, with more contractors that can be hired with the federal money, lead piping can be eradicated in the city by the end of her first term in office.

“Some people are saying it’s not going to happen, but not me,” Mantello added. “I don’t say impossible. It’s totally possible.”

Schumer is promising the $13 million is just the beginning. If and when other homes are tested and more contamination is detected, there will be more federal money flowing into Troy streets.

Schumer said Troy has made great progress and has already inventoried over 50% of the city’s lead private water pipes to know the scope of what needs to be replaced. Of an estimated 12,400 total pipes in the city, approximately 2,800 are expected to be lead, according to Schumer.

“The best way to help is to make sure your pipes are tested, knowing where the pipes are is half the battle and is how the city can be best positioned to tap even more federal funding,” he said.

“No parent should fear using their tap water,” Mantello added. “I’m committed to replacing all lead pipes within four years.”