See below for updates to this story.
ALPINE — Some Alpine residents were alarmed recently when they received letters from the city’s water utility notifying them that their service lines — pipes leading from the main water line to their home’s meter and from the meters to the home — may be made of lead.
The notification letters are the result of new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR) that mandate water utilities inventory all service line pipes to see if they are lead or galvanized. (Galvanized pipes can be contaminated with lead that then leaches into the water.)
Annette Minjarez, administrative assistant to the City of Alpine’s director of utilities, said the letters don’t necessarily mean there is actual lead in the homeowner’s water or that it’s dangerous. The letters notify residents that the city has made a determination that the residence’s pipes are in three categories: lead, galvanized or unknown. However, the content in the letters that then outlines the dangers of lead — learning and behavioral disabilities as well a wide range of significant health problems — was required, according to EPA instructions on the notifications. That content led many residents to post concerns on Facebook over lead in their water, with the same alarm being spread around the country with cities now sending out letters.
Minjarez said about 2,105 letters were sent out (out of 2,779 metered customers) on November 15. The results of the current inventory show:
- 67 (2.4%) identified as lead
- 228 (8.2%) identified as galvanized, requiring replacement
- 1,991 (72%) identified as unknown
- 498 (17.9%) identified as non-lead
The EPA rule revisions, which began in October of 2021 and are administered by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), required an inventory showing which pipes may be lead, galvanized or unknown to be completed by October 16. But Minjarez said for Alpine it will be an ongoing process of checking local records and physically rechecking homes to make sure that assessments are accurate. The city had assessed 38% of its lines by the deadline, Minjarez said. “We’re slowly identifying all the lines, and the people that got a letter that said ‘unknown’ will get an updated letter saying we now know what your line is,” Minjarez said. “We have already found that some of the lines that were pre-identified as lead are not lead, or they’re galvanized or even PVC.” EPA regulations call for submitting another inventory and replacement plan by November 1, 2027.
The residences in question will be those built before Congress made additions to the Safe Drinking Water Act in 1986 that banned lead pipes for service lines or in newly-constructed homes. The new rule is intended to prompt the replacement of lead and galvanized service lines and to try and help pay for that process with federal and state grants, according to EPA documents. Another goal is to educate homeowners on whether the pipes inside their house are lead or galvanized and urge replacement when possible.
“Our main goal is by October of next year to have a [service line] replacement plan,” Minjarez said. “We’ll have to replace so many of the lead and galvanized lines, and we’ll have to do so many a year depending on the size and the number. It’s going to take some time and quite a bit of money. There are grants available that we’re in the process of applying for and have applied for. We’re taking some big strides in trying to get in compliance with the TCEQ.”
Public water utilities are required by the TCEQ to periodically test to ensure the supplies — often from multiple sources — don’t contain lead, but poisoning is still possible through the service line pipes and indoor plumbing. The notification letter sent by the City of Alpine includes EPA language on how to minimize risks, such as not using hot water for drinking or cooking, since lead leaches more with hot water, and using filters designed specifically to remove lead.
Getting rid of lead and galvanized pipes has been a goal for the EPA since the 1990s, but the effort came to a head with the Flint Michigan water crises in 2014 that saw hundreds of residents suffering from lead ingestion. On October 8, President Biden announced the finalization of EPA rules with $2.6 billion in federal funding ($15 billion over five years) and a goal to eliminate lead pipes within 10 years.
If water systems don’t comply within the deadlines under the new rule, they could receive a violation notice from TCEQ and must notify consumers of the violation, Ricky Richter, a TCEQ spokesperson, said in an email. “If serious or continuing violations are identified, TCEQ initiates enforcement and the entity receives a Notice of Enforcement (NOE),” he wrote. “When violations are serious enough to warrant an enforcement action, the TCEQ is authorized to enforce correction of the violations and to seek penalties to deter future noncompliance.”
Other area public water supplies
Marfa Interim City Manager Kelly Perez said Marfa did an inventory of its 1,197 active customers, which found:
- 0 (0%) identified as lead
- 46 (5.3%) identified as galvanized, requiring replacement
- 505 (42.2%) identified as unknown
- 646 (54% identified as non lead
Perez said the utility department will prioritize replacing the galvanized pipes over the next year and will continue to manually inspect the unknowns to classify them. Customers will be notified of the findings and process in annual utility notices and with door-to-door fliers.
Presidio City Manager Pablo Rodriguez stressed that none of the main city line pipes are lead, but that they were unaware of the new EPA regulations and would be contacting TCEQ to make sure they do what they need to do to be in compliance. Representatives from the Fort Davis Water Supply Corporation could not be reached for comment. No notification letters have been sent by these entities.
The Study Butte Water Supply Corporation completed its survey of about 300 residences, and since they didn’t begin installing pipes until 2000 to 2005, no lead or galvanized service lines were found, according to Alisa De La Cruz, the office manager. De La Cruz said all required reporting was submitted to the EPA on September 12.
Charlie Angell, Redford Public Water Supply Corporation president, said that about six months ago the corporation got an email outlining requirements for an inventory. The corporation found its original blueprints for the system lines that showed everything used was PVC. Angell said a representative at TCEQ told him that was good enough to be in compliance.
A representative of the Candelaria system could not be reached. However, since that system was built in the early 1990s, after the ban on lead and the non-use of galvanized pipes, it’s unlikely that they will have problematic service lines.
This article was updated on December 6 at 2:39 p.m. to include stats on the number of letters sent in Alpine, stats on what the composition type of pipes are (that are known), the penalty for not meeting rule deadlines, and comment from the Presidio City Manager. The article was upated on December 7 at 10:34 a.m. to add Angell’s comments. The article was updated on Tuesday, December 9 at 3:33 p.m. to add comments from the City of Marfa.