Goshen to begin citywide copper, lead analysis

May 20, 2023

Reporter

Goshen City Hall

GOSHEN — Goshen city utilities will begin door-to-door assessments of lead and copper in pipes in order to fall in line with new nationwide mandates.

The change stems from the federal government's Clean Water Act. The 1991 lead and copper ruling within the act has been amended several times, with the most recent amendment in 2021. The Title 40 amendment requires utility services to identify service material in each customer's service line.

Dustin Sailor, city director of public works and utilities, said all city utilities nationwide should be making similar assessments, with a deadline for submission of inventory information of Oct. 16, 2024. The information will be kept in a database by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and accessible to the public.

In the city of Goshen, virtually all water meter services are up with a curb stop at the right of way, and a meter within the home. This means that in order to determine material of pipes leading to homes, the city needs to know what pipe is just behind the water meter that is within the home, and they want to do it without having to excavate each property. To make the assessments and formalize the inventory of the copper and service lines for publication, city officials are hoping to crowdsource that information from members of the public.

"This is not only important to the utility but it's important to them as a utility customer because anything that we have to do to extend costs to find out what that material is, it's directly paid for by the ratepayer," Sailor said.

For homes where city officials cannot gain access to the information, either in person or through the web program, they will have to excavate.

Public outreach has and will continue to be a critical component of the program, in order to help conserve costs. The city's employees spent time at First Fridays last week providing information to residents. They’ll also be posting door hangers on homes, and notices on utility bills in an effort to reach out to as many customers as possible.

In the fall, the federal EPA announced there will likely be additional requirements, which may cause some changes to the plan.

Because Indiana's lead service ban went into effect in 1987, it is expected that buildings built after that won't have a lead service line. The city also analyzed the water service line construction history.

While utility representatives may be coming door-to-door throughout the process, there are a few ways to ensure that customers remain safe. Many of the reps will be interns with the city or city staff, but they will be wearing orange shirts and have an ID badge, but Sailor said if anyone has concerns about someone at their door claiming to be with the utility program, contact the utility billing office.

"We want to make sure people feel safe with this situation," he said.

A self-report survey is available online, as well as information on how to determine the type of pipe within the home. Residents who self-report will be asked several questions and asked to take a photo of the pipe from the wall that leads into the water meter. If a survey is completed properly, the utility employees and interns will not need to come out for additional information. Sailor said this helps to keep costs of the mandate low for the city.

For more information or to submit a self-report survey, visit leadsafe-goshenindiana.hub.arcgis.com.

Dani Messick is the education and entertainment reporter for The Goshen News. She can be reached at [email protected] or at 574-538-2065.

Reporter

Education and entertainment reporter for The Goshen News

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