Due to an EPA mandate, The Evansville Water and Sewer Utility (EWSU) will be working to identify all lead service water lines in the city.
Some private water lines installed before 1987 could contain lead. All 73,000 water customers were informed of this process with letters.
The EWSU hosted the first Lead in Our Drinking Water community conversation Monday afternoon at the Sunrise Pumpstation. Right out the gate, Mayor Stephanie Terry said “don’t panic.”
“We know how to address and tackle this issue,” she said.
“Typically, we don't detect any lead. Occasionally, we do, but the concentrations are low,” EWSU executive director Vic Kelson said. These older homes can be tested by the water utility for free.
This will help them build a database of all homes with lead, and figure out how to proceed with replacement.
Kelson is not sure how they’ll approach city-owned lead line replacement as a whole.
“At this time, we don't have a we have not determined how we're going to approach the expense of replacing the service lines, because we can't,” he said. “We don't know how much it's going to cost. We don't know how many of them they're going to be, so I'm going to have to ask everyone to be patient about that part.”
He said they'll be working in the coming year to identify lead service lines and they’ll start with Daycare Centers and Schools in 2025.
He says the property owner owns the line from the curb to the tap, which could also contain lead.
Fixtures like water faucets could also contain lead.
There will be another informational session in January. The EWSU has tips on minimizing lead exposure on their website.
One suggestion is running the water for a few moments before drinking, and only cook and mix baby formula with cold water.
EWSU Water Quality Manager Ethan Elleser said if an actionable amount of lead is detected in a water source, more testing and monitoring would be conducted. “So we won't just leave you with the high result,” he said.
Should the homeowner decide to replace their service line, it would be best to let the city know so they can test their portion of the service and replace if needed a the same time.
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