Arlington Water Utilities employees have inspected more than 13,450 water service lines throughout the City over the past six months to comply with new federal rules aimed at decreasing lead exposure in the U.S. None of the lines assessed so far are made of lead.

The work began after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency updated guidelines for lead and copper monitoring by public drinking water providers. This update is known as the Lead and Copper Rule Revision (LCRR). Arlington plans to inspect a total of 66,735 service lines before October 2024. That work is about 20% finished.

Lead exposure can lead to anemia, weakness, kidney and brain damage, and even death in extreme cases. Lead is a health risk to everyone but in particular to pregnant women and children.

Lead in drinking water is primarily from materials and components in service lines and home plumbing. The Lead and Copper Rule, a U.S. EPA program, is designed to minimize lead and copper levels in drinking water to protect public health.

Currently, City of Arlington records do not indicate any lead service lines in the portion of the water distribution system owned by the City. To comply with the new EPA guidelines, the water department must verify whether lead materials are in any city-owned water service lines and make that information available to the public by October 16, 2024. The City must also create a similar inventory of the privately-owned water service lines, or pipes, which run from the water meter to the entrance to the home or business.

A lead ban on plumbing materials went into effect in Arlington in 1988. Arlington Water Utilities will comply with the new EPA rules by submitting documentation to the EPA that approximately 42,000 of the water services to homes and businesses in the City were built after that date. For many of those, the pipe material used in the construction of the public water lines is also listed in records.

The approximately 67,000 addresses that are the subject of the current inspections were all built before the lead ban on plumbing materials went into effect in the City.

“There are many factors that lead us to believe that most of the structures being inspected don’t have lead service lines, even though they were built before 1988. Lead was not commonly used as a drinking water material in North Texas, and City crews have not historically encountered lead lines in their repair or replacement work,” Arlington Water Utilities Director Craig M. Cummings said.

Cummings said his opinion about the scarcity of lead service lines is also based on 30 years of water system testing results that have shown Arlington to be within the EPA’s safety guidelines for lead and copper.

“But we are not relying on assumptions, educated opinions, or computer modeling. The service lines at these addresses will be inspected by a skilled water utility technician before October 2024,” Cummings said.

Arlington Water Utilities conducted its latest rounds of lead and copper testing of tap water earlier this year, as required by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. All 50 samples collected from addresses throughout Arlington showed lead levels well below the EPA Action Level for lead of 15 parts per billion. The results of these tests are reported each year in the Arlington Water Utilities Consumer Confidence Report.

A full inventory of water service line materials in the City won’t be available online until October 2024, but Arlington Water will notify residents within a few days if a lead service line is found at their home during the inspections.

To learn more about the Service Line Inventory being conducted by Arlington Water Utilities, please visit this link.