Lead Out: Water systems nationwide miss crucial deadline to identify their lead pipes
Many water systems in the country missed their first lead inventory deadline to identify pipes in need of replacement.
By Caresse Jackman and Daniela Molina
Published: Dec. 2, 2024 at 9:28 AM MST|Updated: 49 minutes ago
Washington, D.C. (InvestigateTV) — On a sunny October day, two volunteers wearing neon-colored vests traveled door to door in a Southeast Washington, D.C. neighborhood. In their arms were iPads and pamphlets. They canvassed and spoke to homeowners who listened.
DC Water crews are visiting residents to inform them about the lead pipe replacement program aimed at eliminating lead pipes in the nation's capital.(Michael Estrabillo)
Their message wasn’t part of a political campaign. Instead, these two volunteers canvassed on behalf of DC Water, a utility company that serves approximately 700,000 residents in the District of Columbia, as well as provides wastewater treatment services to parts of Maryland and Northern Virginia.
InvestigateTV tagged along with DC Water to get an exclusive look as crews walked around, and excavated roads. The goal: to inform customers about their lead replacement program. It’s part of an effort to meet a federal mandate to all water departments to identify and replace lead pipes.
“Just this past year, we have knocked on over 24,000 doors to educate them about our lead-free DC program,” said Kirsten Williams, DC Water’s chief communications officer.
Williams describes DC Water’s lead removal program as an efficient and proactive effort to ensure the safety of the water lines serving local homeowners.
One such homeowner, Samantha Lasky, took advantage of the program by reaching out to DC Water for a test to determine whether the century-old pipes beneath her home contained lead.
“It’s incredible that there’s a pipe out there that’s 130 years old and carrying water to us every day,” Lasky said.
DC Water conducted what’s called a “test pit” outside of Lasky’s home, which is a small excavation dug into the ground to determine the pipe material. If the service line is found to be lead, crews replace it.
As crews conducted the test pit outside of Lasky’s home, they discovered that it was not lead underneath the surface, it was copper.
“In this incident, we have some copper, which we were not expecting, which is why we come out and do a test pit- because in old neighborhoods, like Washington DC, you don’t always know what your service line materials are,” Williams said.
DC Water also discovered that the city had more lead lines than they originally estimated.
“When we started this program in 2019, we thought we had about 28,000 lead service lines. When we came out to do those test pits and try to better identify what that service line material is, we realized we had a much higher number. So, we’re about 42,000, but even that, there are some unknowns with that,” Willams said.
Across the country, water departments face significant challenges in identifying the number and location of lead service lines. Some have found previously unknown water lines and inaccurate historical data to help them locate these pipes.
In many cases, these systems have revealed more lead pipes than departments initially expected. The unknowns in their databases only add to the complexity of an already murky picture of lead pipe distribution.
A key milestone in the 10-year plan to eliminate lead from drinking water came in fall 2024, when water systems nationwide were required to submit their initial inventory of lead service lines by an October 16th deadline
InvestigateTV sent public record requests to states’ environmental departments asking for their lead inventory numbers to further understand the complexity and hardship water departments face in replacing lead pipes.
Our investigation found that some states, like Massachusetts, reported that their water system submitted 99% of their inventories.
However, InvestigateTV found some states where water departments missed that deadline and did not turn in an inventory.
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