Water customers of the City of Henderson received notices recently requesting assistance in identifying the material that their service line – the line that comes from the water main and brings water to the residence, dwelling or business – is made of.
The notice is not, city officials have said, a statement about contaminated water; rather, it is fulfilling a requirement of the Environmental Protection Agency to notify customers of risks associated with pipes made of lead or copper.
The notices read in part, “Our records indicate that part or all of the water pipe material (called a service line) connecting your property to the main is made from UNKNOWN MATERIAL.”
Customers can help by adding information to the city’s records to compile a complete inventory of the service lines.
To help determine the material of your service line, contact leadandcopper@henderson.nc.gov.
“It has come to the City’s attention that someone posted a picture of a letter that is going out to citizens next week for Lead and Copper,” city officials stated on the city of Henderson’s Facebook page in response to information that had appeared elsewhere on social media posts.
“Included in this post was a notice that the City’s water is contaminated. We assure you that is not the case. The City’s water is safe to drink. The Lead and Copper letter…is mandated by the State to be sent out every year. It is the same letter as last year.”
According to the notice that water customers received, they’ll continue to get the annual notice until the service line material is identified
For that reason, the city is asking water customers to help complete the inventory of service line and to share the information about the health effects of lead in the environment.
The notice also includes some basic steps individuals can take to reduce lead in drinking water, from cleaning faucet aerators regularly to using water filters specifically designed to remove lead from drinking water.
EPA has developed an online step-by-step guide to help people identify lead pipes in their homes called Protect Your Tap: A Quick Check for Lead.
This guide is available at www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/protectr-your-tap-quick-check-lead.
CLICK PLAY!
