The city will test water in plastic and plastic-lined drinking water mains installed in three areas between 2008 and 2014, making Cambridge one of the few U.S. communities looking for possible harm from the process and perhaps the only for an extended period.

A Methuen man appeared at Cambridge District Court for arraignment on the criminal misdemeanor charge of negligent operation of a motor vehicle, which was related to a pedestrian death Oct. 5.

A Methuen man will face one count of negligent operation of a motor vehicle in the Oct. 5 death of pedestrian Jie Zhao, 27, on Putnam Avenue.

The water transmission lines that were being considered as a candidate for the controversial repair technology known as cured-in-place plastic are in fine shape and don’t need that kind of extensive renovation, a consultant has told city Water Department officials.

Jie Zhao celebrated her 27th birthday Sept. 14. Four weeks later she was killed by a dump truck a little more than a block from her home on Chestnut Street.

The city has reversed course and is allowing public disclosure of its contract with a consultant to study the use of cured-in-place plastic, a controversial method to repair drinking water pipe.

The city is refusing to make public a contract for study of the controversial technology known as cured-in-place plastic. The study is part of the process for deciding whether to use CIPP to repair major water mains in Cambridge.

A long-simmering controversy over using plastic lining to repair aging water mains surfaced with an order saying the technology raised “significant health concerns” and asking for assurances it won’t be used in Cambridge without gathering “all relevant scientific information.”

Public meetings this week look at issues such as the dangers of switching water pipes to a plastic lining, the reconstruction of Inman Square, residential and commercial buildings proposed for Kendall Square, the demolition of Vail Court and the future of dockless bikes locally.