'Time bomb' lead pipes will be removed. But first water utilities have to find them

In this July 20, 2018 file photo, a lead pipe is shown after being replaced by a copper water supply line to a home in Flint, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

It took three years for officials to notice lead was seeping into the city’s drinking water.

Missouri regulators had given the green light in 2014 for Trenton to start adding monochloramine to its drinking water to disinfect it without the harmful byproducts of chlorine.

But by 2017, the city noticed something alarming.