MAWA stepping up efforts in check for lead supply lines

Apr. 6—VERNON TOWNSHIP — Meadville Area Water Authority is willing to do whatever it takes to help customers complete a survey regarding the material used in pipes connecting their residences to the authority's water mains.

"You can call here and make an appointment, and we'll send someone out, or you call here, and any of the customer service people will literally walk you through it," Harrington said Friday. "It should only take two minutes of your time."

The effort is part of a lead service line inventory mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the aftermath of lead contamination in Flint, Michigan, water supply lines resulted in residents being advised not to drink their tap water in 2016.

With nearly 60 percent of customer supply lines surveyed, no lead lines have been found, Harrington reported. Approximately 12 galvanized steel lines have been identified.

According to an EPA fact sheet on the service line inventory project, galvanized lines that are or have been downstream from lead lines or lines of unknown materials must be replaced.

"MAWA has been actively pursuing lead lines for the past 12 years," Harrington said. The authority has "excellent records" regarding lines that extend from customer curb boxes to water mains — the portion of the distribution network owned by MAWA, Harrington added. Records of line materials connecting the curb box to the customer are much less complete. The curb box, typically located close to the curb or property line, contains a water shutoff valve between authority-owned lines and customer-owned lines.

MAWA has until Oct. 24 to submit data for its approximately 5,100 customers, according to Harrington. About 3,000 have responded to survey requests so far.

The three-question survey is relatively simple: Customers are first asked to check whether the supply line carrying water from the curbside shutoff valve is lead, galvanized steel, copper, plastic or some other material. The second question asks each homeowner to check one of several options explaining how they determined the supply line material, and the last question asks them to select a time range for the residence's construction.

The survey can be completed online at 120water.formstack.com/forms/mawa.

While the questions are straightforward, Harrington acknowledged that some people aren't necessarily familiar enough with water lines to easily or reliably identify the material of a particular line. As a result, MAWA staff members are available by appointment to look at the supply line, or customers can take a photo of their line and email it to the authority at support@120water.com.

If customer-owned lead supply lines are discovered during the inventory, it is not yet clear who will have to pay to replace them, Harrington told board members last month.

"That's the million-dollar question," he said. "It's still a big debate."

Customers typically bear the burden of maintenance for issues located on their side of the curb box, consulting engineer Tom Thompson told the board.

"I think initially, it's still going to be the homeowner's responsibility," he said.

MAWA, like water companies across the country, is intensifying its efforts to reach customers as the deadline approaches, according to Harrington.

Postcards sent to customers last fall had little impact, and Harrington said many customers likely had a hard time distinguishing the cards from unwanted junk mail. Only about 300 of some 5,000 postcard surveys were returned, he added.

More recently, the authority has turned to notices hung from door knobs. The notices employ a different tone than the earlier postcard requests, Harrington told MAWA board members last month.

"Call today to schedule your MANDATORY service line and meter inspection," the notices read above the authority's phone number, (814) 724-6057.

"We went from 'please' to 'call us now,'" Harrington joked, "because when we said 'please,' it didn't go anywhere."

Mike Crowley can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at mcrowley@meadvilletribune.com.