EPA rule change could require JWSC to replace private water lines

Jul. 27—Brunswick's drinking water utility may be on the hook to replace private lead water lines under new rules handed down by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

To its knowledge, the Brunswick-Glynn County Joint Water and Sewer Commission has no lead lines in the public tap water system, but any structures built before the late 1980s could have privately held pipes with lead content.

"Lead service lines have been in the ground for years. As long as we're doing our water production correctly it should not pose an immediate health risk," said JWSC Executive Director Andrew Burroughs.

Water distributed by the JWSC "has always passed" safety tests for lead and copper content, Burroughs said.

"It's not an immediate crisis if we do find (lead pipes in the water system). It's just something we're going to be required to replace," Burroughs continued.

The JWSC simply doesn't know what material some lines in the public system are made of, but Burroughs said if any lead lines are found, most are going to be privately owned.

"We have decent records on material types up to the meter," he said. "However, on the customer side of the services, our records are essentially nonexistent."

Per the new EPA rule, the JWSC would not have to pay to replace privately owned lead lines, but Burroughs says he expects the state to impose that cost on the JWSC eventually.

"Doing this is one of those things that sounds ideal in a policy decision without really understanding the impacts to the utility and the customer," Burroughs said.

It not only applies to lead lines but also galvanized steel pipes that were once downstream from lead. If a public utility can't "demonstrate that the galvanized service line was never downstream of a lead service line, it must presume there was an upstream lead service line," per the new rule.

Finding lead lines could take upwards of a year. The deadline is October 2024, Burroughs said.

The utility commission voted last week to spend $130,750 on specialized equipment to locate lead in water lines without actually digging up the pipes.

Given 11,728 homes connected to the water system were built prior to 1990, that's a relief for the utility.

"It is highly unlikely that we will have to check each of these services," he said. "We are working through a data exercise, looking at record drawings where we have (them) and seeing what kind of materials we can find to reduce the number of installations that have to be individually checked."

In the case of whole neighborhoods in which the utility can't find records of water line materials, Burroughs said the JWSC will only check a "statistically significant" number of homes. If even one has a lead line, the whole neighborhood will have to be checked.

If there are any lead lines, they're going to be found where the infrastructure is oldest, Burroughs said.

"I do not know the percentage there. The bulk are going to be downtown Brunswick and the south end of St. Simons Island because that's where the oldest infrastructure is," Burrough said.

Any public system that has lead pipes, galvanized pipes downstream from lead or pipes of unknown material must submit a replacement plan to the state. The plan has to include a prioritization strategy taking into account "disadvantaged consumers and populations most sensitive to the effects of lead," and "ways to accommodate customers that are unable to pay to replace the portion they own."

The rule does not give a deadline for implementing the plan.

"Currently, you're required to notify (customers) I believe at least twice that they have a lead service line with the hope that they'll replace it themselves, but obviously if they don't replace it eventually the EPA is going to require us to replace it," Burroughs said. "In the rule, they're not requiring utilities to replace private lines. However, they are requiring them to be replaced. It seems like there will be a natural follow-through with that."

If the utility does end up having to foot the bill, Burroughs said it could mean that the utility will need to secure an easement from every homeowner who needs theirs replaced.

Ideally, the new rule won't affect ratepayers, he continued, as the federal government will offer grants to assist in the endeavor.

"If they're loans, those will have to be paid back," Burroughs said. "The hope is any cost will be minimized."

The EPA's new rule also requires the JWSC to produce a map of all lead lines in the county once the project is complete.

Burroughs says the rule is likely a response to a drinking water contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan, in 2015. As reported by the Associated Press, the water authority in Flint changed its water source in 2014, employing a different treatment method. As a result, lead contamination spread through the entire water system.