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Jun 22, 2023

EPA orders MWD to take lead service line inventory

The Mountain Water District (MWD) will soon be collecting information from all

The Mountain Water District (MWD) will soon be collecting information from all of their customers as part of a Lead Service Line Inventory Project for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

According to Tammy Olson, MWD general manager, the EPA is requiring MWD to take a comprehensive inventory of each service connection within the system to determine the service line material on both sides of the meter.

Olson said MWD has always kept inventory on the service lines on their side of the meter, but they’ve never asked that information from their customers.

"This is something we’ve never done, or asked, because it wasn't any of our business," said Olson. "What someone does on their own property should be their business."

However, now, Olson said, the EPA is making it their business.

"It's a compliance issue," Olson said. "It's not an option."

There are a few ways to collect this information, Olson said, including surveys, employees going door to door and checking crawl spaces, basements and under houses.

The project is going to be a huge undertaking, Olson said, therefore MWD has applied for a funding program available through the EPA.

The funding program, Olson said, would be a partially forgivable loan including monies to cover the hiring of four temporary employees and acquiring new vehicles for the district to keep.

"The program is 49 percent forgivable," said Olson. "Which means the district will have to commit to paying 51 percent of the project total."

The funds are administered by the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority (KIA), Olson said.

"There's a board there that determines who gets the money and who doesn't," she said. "We’re crossing our fingers they’ll award it to us."

Currently, Olson said, customers who come into the office will receive a service line survey to fill out; soon, customers can expect to see a survey with their bills.

Filling out the survey, Olson said, will eliminate the need for an employee to come out to a customer's home.

If a customer declines to fill out the survey or allow an employee to view their service lines, Olson said, that will be marked as a lead pipe and the district will be penalized.

"If they say no, that ends it," she said. "Then we bear the consequences."

Furthermore, Olson said, MWD must check every meter, including inactive customers.

If there's a connection, she said, it has to be checked.

The deadline to complete the Lead Service Line Inventory Project, Olson said, is October, 2024.

According to the project outline, the outcome of this project will leave MWD with a sustainable system of data analytics to support operations and management to sustain capital planning and compliance goals well into the future.

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