NEW YORK—When Brooklyn homeowner Ronald Robins got a notification in the mail in June about the Service Line Protection Program, he decided to sign up. Customers in the program pay a monthly fee to insure their water and sewer lines, so that when the pipes are damaged, they can get free repairs.
Homeowners like Robins are responsible for the maintenance of the water and sewer. It can cost between $3,000 and $5,000 to fix a water line and between $10,000 and $15,000 to repair a sewer line. Robins thought it was best to take precaution.
A few months after he signed up, Robins’ water line started leaking. He called customer service and got his pipe fixed for free. It would have otherwise cost him more than $4,000.
“I know that it’s not something that a homeowner wants, to have his sewer or water lines break, but being in the program, I was pretty satisfied with the fact that I was able to call a customer service number and within an hour I got a response from a contractor to come and check out my problem and see what needed to be done,” said Robins, a 58-year-old Con Edison employee.
Since the program launched in January, 101,458 homeowners in all five boroughs have signed up for the Service Line Protection Program. It was launched by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and is managed by American Water Resources. Owners are eligible if their property has a single service line of two inches or less, usually found in single- or two-family homes. There are roughly 670,000 eligible properties in the city.
“The program protects eligible residential property owners from the high cost or unexpected damage and also ensures that the repair work is completed quickly and performed by a licensed mast plumber who does quality work,” said DEP Commissioner Carter Strickland.
It costs $4.49 per month to protect a water line and $7.99 to protect a sewer line. This cost is tacked onto the monthly water bill for participating customers. There is a 30-day waiting period after a customer signs up but once a customer is in the program, they can get full coverage with no deductible whenever their pipes have a problem. Customers can also drop out of the program anytime they want.
The AWR has performed over 2,000 repairs and saved the impacted customers more than $7 million. The program has not cost the city any money.
According to a customer service representative at Roto-Rooter Plumbing and Drain Service, brand new pipes should not leak for several years. However, cast iron pipes are more susceptible to rust and cracks, especially in cold weather, whereas PVC pipes are more durable.
When asked if a homeowner in New York should sign up for pipe protection, the representative suggested paying for protection, especially for cast iron pipes even if they are brand new.
Yi Yang is a special correspondent in New York.
