Photo: City of Grand Marais

By Laura Durenberger-Grunow - Boreal Community Media - August 29, 2025

The City of Grand Marais is working with the engineering firm AE2S to conduct a water service line inventory for all homes and businesses in town. The project aims to identify all pipe materials within the city's drinking water infrastructure, with a specific focus on locating and addressing any lead components.

According to Grand Marais Superintendent Scott Warner, in an email from the city, "Grand Marais needs to identify all the pipe materials in our drinking water infrastructure. It’s important that we identify any lead in our water system so we can address it.”

For anyone using city water service, AE2S staff will conduct door-to-door inspections at homes and businesses through the end of September (see below for a photo of the inspectors). As an alternative, residents have the option to perform their own inspection and complete a short online survey at bit.ly/GrandMaraisPipes. The survey requires a photo of the pipe attached to the shutoff valve and water meter for verification.

City of Grand Marais Communications Director Patrick Knight said that if people prefer to perform their own inspection (and upload the photos), they should do it as soon as they are able. 

For any questions regarding the service line inventory, please contact the Grand Marais Water Utility by emailing [email protected].

Image: City of Grand Marais