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Danville Utilities has turned in an inventory of its customers’ private water lines to the Virginia Department of Health as part of a long process to eventually replace those systems that contain lead. Customers received letters last week from Danville Utilities to let them know that their water lines contain lead. Others received notices that it was unknown whether their pipes had the element.
Those whose systems were found not to contain lead did not receive a letter, said Danville Utilities Director Jason Grey. Danville Utilities is taking an inventory of public and private water service lines as part of an EPA mandate to remove lead from water systems across the country. All water service lines, public and private, that are found to have lead will have to be replaced by 2037, according to the EPA mandate.
Danville Utilities compiled an inventory for public lines — those leading from the water main to a property’s water meter — by going through its records, Grey said. Private lines include those residential water pipes — owned by those property owners — leading from the utility’s line at their meters to residents’ homes. “All water utilities are having to do an inventory project of both public and private lines and the work has to be completed by Oct.
16, 2024,” Grey said in May. The city provided the inventory information to the Virginia Department of Health and the EPA last month as required. The EPA is requiring all utility providers across the country to participate in the endeavor to submit an inventory of all public and private water service lines under the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in 2021.
Grey said the next step is to refine Danville Utilities’ customer inventory by determining whose private water lines contain lead. The city has three years to do that. “We have to refine the inventory by October 2027,” Grey told the Register & Bee on Tuesday afternoon.
So far, 129 private service lines have been found to contain lead, while 18,905 are determined to be unknown so far, Grey said. “All unknown service lines must be identified [determined whether they have lead] during this same time period,” Grey said, referring to the three-year span. “Identification strategies may include records, field verification, customer surveys, modeling and other techniques.
” Excavations are currently being performed at 400 locations, Grey said. Danville Utilities customers can expect to receive a survey in their utility bills mailed out in December, he said. Replacement of pipes that contain lead must be complete by November 2037, he said.
The EPA’s rule on lead and copper started in 1991 and provides regulations for drinking water. The rule is administered locally by the Virginia Department of Health’s Office of Drinking Water. Lead in water service lines was banned in 1986 and homes built after 1988 can be eliminated from the inventory and replacement process, Grey said.
As for the city’s public water service lines, officials undertook an effort in the 1990s to remove lead from Danville’s water system from the main line to the meters of homes. The inventory process has included Danville Utilities coming onto residential properties to check meter boxes and possibly take samples to check for lead, Grey said. Danville Utilities will contact homeowners ahead of time and coordinate with them to access their property, he said.
Danville Utilities has about 18,000 residential, commercial and industrial water customer accounts, he said. There is no lead or copper in treated drinking water, but different plumbing materials may contain lead that can enter water as it moves through the distribution system. During Danville City Council’s meeting Tuesday night, Grey assured everyone that the city’s treated water is safe.
Regarding whether property owners will have to pay thousands of dollars to replace their water lines, that will be determined later, Grey said. “We have 10 years to determine how replacements are handled, or if customers will be responsible for that,” he said. The replacements could be paid for by customers or covered by grant money or a combination of both, Grey said.
The city received two $250,000 awards, totaling $500,000, from the Virginia Department of Health to pay for the inventory process. The award money from the department came from federal funds under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Danville City Council voted to approve an ordinance to amend the city’s 2024-25 budget to appropriate the funds.
“These two $250,000 grants will cover the inventory requirements of the EPA and Virginia Department of Health’s lead service line inventory mandate,” Grey wrote in a letter to City Council. “Future funds have been requested to cover possible replacement of any lead service lines that are discovered.” John R.
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