Town of Pinedale News Release
The Town of Pinedale takes great pride in providing high quality drinking water to its citizens. Our staff works diligently to protect your water, ensuring we meet and exceed the strict standards set forth by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Recently, the EPA revised the Lead and Copper Rule in public water systems. This update, known as the Lead and Copper Rule Revision (LCRR), strengthens the existing Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) to better protect consumers from lead and copper in drinking water. Among these changes, public water systems must maintain a lower lead content than previously required, adopt a more robust sampling/monitoring plan for lead and copper, and complete and maintain a Lead Service Line Inventory (LSLI) to document all service line materials. This rule change is impacting every municipality across the country and is intended to provide safe drinking water to all people in America.
The Town of Pinedale remains committed to meeting and exceeding all EPA requirements set forth for our public water system and is working hard to clearly communicate these changes to our customers and inform you of the steps we have taken to comply with these new, stricter requirements, and what to expect as this process continues.
First and foremost, please be assured that the Town of Pinedale’s drinking water currently meets or exceeds all regulations, including those for lead and copper levels. The Town manages a robust EPA-approved sampling plan, which we annually monitor for these contaminants. Additionally, through the vast historic knowledge of our staff, local engineers, and contractors, there are no known lead pipes anywhere in our public water system.
A Brief History
There is extensive documentation regarding lead and copper in public water systems. Lead pipes were commonly used from the late 1800s through much of the 20th century. This practice ended with the 1988 federal ban on the use of lead in water systems and plumbing intended for human consumption, requiring the use of lead-free materials for installation and repairs within potable systems. In 1979, the Town of Pinedale prior to the 1988 ban, wisely adopted minimum construction standards that specified Type K copper for any service line less than three inches in diameter and ductile iron for anything greater than three inches, ensuring a safer and more durable water system for our community.
In 1991, the EPA implemented the original Lead and Copper Rule, which set nationwide compliance standards that municipal water systems must meet to protect drinking water quality. Since then, the Town of Pinedale has continually and diligently worked to meet and often exceed these requirements, applying a proactive approach to maintaining a safe water supply for our residents.
If the Town of Pinedale has possibly never installed lead pipes where does lead come from in our drinking water?
Source water from Fremont Lake is tested and confirmed to be free of lead when it leaves the federally required water treatment plant and before it enters our distribution system. When present, lead typically leaches into water through minor sources such as household solder joints, older in-home plumbing, and other fixtures like faucets and valves. Most importantly, to our knowledge there are no lead pipes in the public segments of our system.
What is the Town of Pinedale doing to help reduce lead and copper levels in our drinking water?
The Town of Pinedale is required by the EPA to have a Corrosion Control Plan reducing the water’s natural corroding properties and reducing the absorption of contaminants from pipes, fittings, and fixtures. A Corrosion Control Study was completed in 2016-2017 by JVA Consulting Engineers and specifically evaluated the Town of Pinedale’s source water, Fremont Lake, to determine an effective corrosion control system. Per the findings of the report, the Town currently injects soda ash to adjust the pH and lessen the corrosivity of our water. This system was thoroughly reviewed by multiple agencies and approved for use by the EPA.
The original LCR required that municipalities sample lead and copper throughout the distribution system. The Town has monitored these contaminants dating back to the late 1990s to the present. These samples are completed annually, with review from the EPA. In 2016, the Town of Pinedale worked with the EPA to develop a more vigorous sampling plan to include sensitive populations. This was not required by the EPA at the time but is now required in the new Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI) adopted in 2024.
Since the adoption of the sampling plan in 2016, the Town of Pinedale has maintained consistent compliance with lead and copper levels. To comply with EPA rules, 90% of samples must be below the EPA lead and copper action limits every year. The EPA has a lead action level limit of 0.015 mg/l (parts/million) while copper is 1.3 mg/l (parts/million). Since 2017, the Town has averaged a lead content across our sampling sites from 0.001-0.005 mg/l and a copper content of 0.02-0.03 mg/l. Both are well below the action limits set by the EPA. The newly adopted LCRR action level of 0.010 mg/l for lead aligns with our current compliance .
Lead Service Line Inventory
The third major rule change with the LCRR is the requirement for public water systems to develop and maintain a Lead Service Line Inventory (LSLI). In short, the EPA is requiring all municipalities to develop an inventory of water pipe material types from the water main line to the home. Historically, this is the most common location where lead pipes were installed in America. To complete this inventory, municipalities must be able to verifiably identify the material type.
With approximately 1,220 service line connections within our public water system, the Town of Pinedale has put a great deal of effort into completing this inventory. Staff reviewed as-built records from rehabilitation projects and subdivisions, water meter installation pictures, construction standards, DEQ permits, and other records in our efforts to complete this inventory as accurately as possible and complete as possible. Through these efforts, Town Staff was able to inventory the material type of ~89% of the service lines. The Town of Pinedale submitted the initial inventory to EPA Region 8 on October 11, 2024, to meet our requirements with the EPA. The completed inventory is available for review at Town Hall, 205 Entertainment Lane, Pinedale, WY 82941.
What’s Next?
There is no need for concern. Nationwide, this regulation aims to protect human health by requiring municipalities to identify and eventually replace all the remaining lead service lines. The Town of Pinedale first used cast iron and asbestos cement pipe for transmission and main distribution lines and Type K copper tubing for service lines. Since that time, many transmission lines and distribution lines have been replaced with Ductile Iron Pipe.
Additionally, all service lines replaced since then have been replaced with Type K Copper or Polyethylene. None of our records indicate lead pipe. Of the current 1,089 service lines inventoried, 1,086 are copper or polyethylene, and three (3) are verified galvanized steel pipes.
According to the LCRR, if the material of the service line is listed as either UNKNOWN, lead, or galvanized, the customer must be officially notified. Currently, ~11% of service lines are documented as UNKNOWN in our inventory. If you are one of these 11%, you will receive an official EPA notice stating such and the documentation we do have for your service line, if any. If you have additional information that may help the Town complete our inventory, we would appreciate you sharing that with us.
Follow-up Notification
If your service line is one of the 11% UNKNOWN, you will receive an official EPA notification. It will indicate any information we do have for your service line and contain EPA required text. Please understand that this is a requirement from the EPA to notify you until we are able to definitively identify the material of your service line and should not be a cause for concern. Please provide the Town of Pinedale with any information you may have pertaining to your service line material. We are required to send the official EPA notification annually until we determine the material of your service line.
If you would like to understand your material type, a hard copy of the submitted inventory is available for public review at Town Hall.
Please take a few moments to fill out the WY RISK IT Survey at www.wyriskit.com/customers or scan the QR code below.
If You Are Concerned About Lead Exposure
If you are uncertain of the plumbing at any location, the simplest and cheapest way to significantly reduce your chances of lead exposure is to run the cold water for five minutes prior to drinking it or using it for cooking. Our source water is free of lead, and the most common plumbing to pick up this lead is the internal plumbing of your home. Flush this water from your pipes, replacing it with water contained within the Town’s main lines. This will greatly reduce the risk of intaking lead.
If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to Spencer Hartman or Gracy Carpenter with the Town of Pinedale. They are very educated on this topic and eager to help. They can be reached at 307-367-2348 or by email at spencerhartman@townofpinedale.us and gracycarpenter@townofpinedale.us.
Published in the Pinedale Roundup November 14, 2024.