MARFA — Marfa residents whose water pipes were determined to be galvanized or “unknown” in a recent lead pipe inventory conducted by the city were notified by hand-delivered letters in December. The City of Alpine also sent out similar letters late last year.
Local water utilities were required by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Texas Center on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to submit service line inventories by October 16, 2024 that identified lead and galvanized pipes in their systems. Both lead pipes and galvanized pipes, because of their ability to absorb lead, are of grave concern due to the negative health impacts associated with lead ingestion, a topic touched on in the letters.
Health effects can include behavioral disabilities in children and “increased risks of heart disease, high blood pressure, kidney or nervous system problems” in adults, the letter states. The notice also contains information about how to reduce exposure to potential lead in your water — by not using hot water for cooking or drinking, for example — and details proper filtration.
Of the City of Marfa’s 1,197 total water service lines:
- 0 (0%) were identified as lead
- 46 (5.3%) were identified as galvanized, requiring replacement
- 505 (42.2%) were identified as unknown
- 646 (54%) were identified as non lead
Public Utilities Supervisor Chuck Salgado said residents with problematic pipes, including galvanized and unknown, recently received hand delivered letters from his department. He is currently compiling a list of addresses for the city’s website so people can also look up their status online, he said. Questions can be directed to Salgado’s email or phone number, csalgado@cityofmarfa.com or 432-729-4316.
Salgado said the initial survey involved studying old records and maps of the city rather than the actual excavation of water lines. Another inventory and replacement plan of all lead and galvanized pipes is due by November 1, 2027.
Salgado said of the 46 customers that received a letter notifying them of galvanized pipes, requiring replacement, the vast majority were located on the old Fort D.A. Russell, which was established in 1911, long before Congress altered the Safe Drinking Water Act in 1986 banning the use of lead pipes in new homes and for service lines.
Salgado said the Public Works department — currently a crew of four — plans to replace at least half of the known galvanized pipes (around 23 or more) within the next year. He said he will contact those residents before work begins.
“It just depends on our availability of what we can do,” Salgado said. “We’re gonna try and replace them as quickly as we can.”
He said they plan to replace both lines running from the city main to the meter and the meter to the home, he said. And home owners will not be liable for any associated costs. (Federal funding to subsidize the replacements is available to municipalities.)
“We’re gonna be replacing from the main to the meter and then, if the customer line is the same galvanized, we’re gonna also be replacing that,” Salgado said.
The 505 Marfa customers who received notice of “unknown” pipes more than likely have galvanized pipes, Salgado said. Assessing those pipes to determine what they are made of and whether they need to be replaced will take time, he said, but the city plans to use a vacuum trailer to excavate lines — a machine that uses water pressure to dig holes and suck up dirt — to cause as little disruption as possible.
“That way we don’t have to take a tractor, a backhoe, to everybody’s property, and start digging up the lines,” Salgado said. “We’re just gonna vacuum excavate on each side of the meter to figure out what the lines are.”
General trends within neighborhoods or blocks may also help the process move along faster, he said. “We have areas where multiple blocks are going to be pretty much the same. So once we figure out a few houses on that block, you can pretty much determine that the rest of that block is going to be the same material that was used,” Salgado said.
Salgado said Public Works employees may perform water testing on taps in people’s homes to determine levels of lead and copper in their lines if they are concerned about contamination. He said the department performs those tests every three years for a handful of residences in town — all spread out — that the state determined were at greater risk for contamination, but levels are typically undetectable or below minimum contamination levels.