Did you Receive a Letter from Your Local Water Department Regarding Potential Lead in Your Water Lines? Here’s What You Should Know.
Barnstable County Water Quality Laboratory has been receiving a high volume of phone calls from homeowners across the Commonwealth who recently received a letter from their local water department prompting concerns about potential lead in their water service lines. We understand that some residents found this letter concerning, so we’ve put together some information to provide clarification on what prompted the letter, what it is and is not saying, and how it reflects efforts to ensure transparency and public health.
A Timeline: How it all Started
In 1974, Congress passed the Safe Drinking Water Act. This law requires EPA to determine the level of contaminants in drinking water at which no adverse health effects are likely to occur with an adequate margin of safety. These non-enforceable health goals, based solely on possible health risks are called maximum contaminant level goals (MCLGs). The MCLG for lead is zero. EPA has set this level based on the best available science which shows there is no safe level of exposure to lead. The fact that there is no safe level of exposure underscores the fact that any action to reduce exposures can have impacts on lives and livelihoods.
For most contaminants, EPA sets an enforceable regulation called a maximum contaminant level (MCL) based on the MCLG. MCLs are set as close to the MCLGs as possible, considering cost, benefits and the ability of public water systems to detect and remove contaminants using suitable treatment technologies.
However, because lead contamination of drinking water often results from corrosion of the plumbing materials belonging to water system customers, EPA established a treatment technique rather than an MCL for lead, which was promulgated in 1991. A treatment technique is an enforceable procedure or level of technological performance which water systems must follow to ensure control of a contaminant.
The treatment technique regulation for lead (referred to as the Lead and Copper Rule) requires water systems to control the corrosivity of the water. The regulation also requires systems to collect tap samples from sites served by the system that are more likely to have plumbing materials containing lead (specifically, homes built before 1986). If more than 10 percent of tap water samples exceed the lead action level of 15 parts per billion, then water systems are required to take additional actions including:
- Taking further steps to optimize their corrosion control treatment (for water systems serving 50,000 people that have not fully optimized their corrosion control).
- Educating the public about lead in drinking water and actions consumers can take to reduce their exposure to lead.
- Replacing the portions of lead service lines (lines that connect distribution mains to customers) under the water system’s control.
On August 4, 2022, EPA released Guidance for Developing and Maintaining a Service Line Inventory to support water systems with their efforts to develop inventories and to provide states with needed information for oversight and reporting to EPA. The guidance provides essential information to help water systems comply with the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions requirement to prepare and maintain an inventory of service line materials by October 16, 2024. Specifically, EPA’s Lead Service Line Inventory guidance:
- Provides best practices for inventory development and communicating information to the public.
- Includes a template for water systems, states, and Tribes to use or adapt to create their own inventory.
- Contains case studies on developing, reviewing, and communicating about inventories.
- Highlights the importance of prioritizing inventory development in disadvantaged communities and where children live and play.
EPA is harmonizing regulatory requirements with unprecedented funding through President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to make rapid progress on removing harmful lead from America’s drinking water.
Lead and Copper Rule Revisions
On December 16, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced final revisions to the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations for lead and copper under authority of the Safe Drinking Water Act – called the Lead and Cooper Rule Revisions (LCRR).
Under these revisions, water systems must provide people with specific information about their service lines. This requirement began on October 16, 2024, prompting water departments to send letters to their customers notifying them that the water they are receiving has been delivered through one of the following:
- A lead service line
- A galvanized requiring replacement (GRR) service line
- A lead status unknown service line
A Letter from your Water Department post October 2024 – Frequently Asked Questions
Does the letter I received confirm that I have lead in my drinking water?
It is important to note that unless specifically stated, the letter was not intended to indicate a confirmed presence of lead in your water. Rather, it reflects efforts to ensure transparency and public health and help owners and/or occupants make decisions on whether and what actions to take to reduce their exposure to lead in drinking water.
The revisions require that the letters be repeated annually, unless the entire service line is no longer lead, GRR, or lead status unknown.
Did something change in my service area that brought this about?
No. The only thing that changed were the regulations about information surrounding how the composition of pipes in the system is communicated. There has been no change in the system, the monitoring process, or how the water is getting delivered to your home.
If there’s a question about my water quality, should the water department be addressing it?
Each water department is required to do routine water quality testing at monitoring stations throughout the service area to ensure that the water is free of harmful pathogens and chemical contaminants. However, there are service connections that have lead service lines, service connections with galvanized service line that was or is possibly downstream of a lead service line and may have absorbed lead, and service connections of unknown material. While the updated regulations stipulate that each water department create an inventory of these service lines to determine where sources of lead contamination might occur, the information is, at present, incomplete. Which is why you’re being notified; for full disclosure.
Should I call my water department to find out more information about my specific location?
Absolutely! Each water department has a slightly different way of complying with the new regulations. Although US EPA provided templates to help water departments communicate this issue effectively, the letters are not standardized. Therefore, letters for homeowners in different service areas might have slightly different information. If you’re not sure what to do next, or if you’re confused about how your family is affected, call your water department. They should be able to give you recommendations for next steps; be it water testing or a service line inspection that they provide or encouraging you to perform testing of your tap water through a certified laboratory.
Regardless of information or assistance provided through my local water department, I still want to have my water tested. How do I do that?
The Barnstable County Water Quality Laboratory is happy to assist you with getting your water tested for lead! Since we are not able to ship the necessary bottles for lead testing, you will have to visit our laboratory to pick them up. When you arrive we’ll provide you all of the tools and instructions needed to perform the test.
You can also have your water tested at one of the certified laboratories listed on the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Website.
Want to know more?
The information we’ve summarized in this post comes from the websites listed below. Check them out for more in-depth information about the rule revisions and lead in drinking water.
Consumer’s Frequently Asked Questions about the LCRR Service Line Inventory | Mass.gov
Lead and Copper Rule Revisions | Mass.gov
Basic Information about Lead in Drinking Water | US EPA
A Quick Check for Lead:
This guide will help you determine if you have a lead service line bringing water into your home. It uses pictures, step-by-step directions to identify lead service lines, provides tips to reduce lead exposure, information on testing your water, and resources to learn more.
