Since 1991, public water providers like the City of Asheboro (City) have been required by the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act to monitor Tier 1 sites for lead and copper levels in the drinking water on a reoccurring schedule. Tier 1 monitoring sites are single family residences served by copper plumbing with lead solder joints installed after 1986 or any sites with lead services lines regardless of installation date. Upon review of records, the City is not aware of any lead service lines in the service area, but there may be galvanized iron service lines with lead components in neighborhoods where the water infrastructure was installed prior to 1960.
The City has been and continues to be compliant with all Federal and State rules regulating lead and copper in drinking water. The most recent lead and copper distribution system sampling was performed in the summer of 2023. There have been no lead results exceeding 15 µg/L since 1995 which is the current threshold set by the EPA.
The City also uses industry best practices in our water treatment processes to control leaching of lead and copper from water service lines and plumbing systems, including the addition of corrosion inhibitor products and optimization of pH in the drinking water. While the City goes to great lengths to minimize and control lead exposure, the primary source of lead exposure in drinking water is associated with household plumbing with lead soldered copper pipes. Lead solder was banned for use in plumbing systems by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1986.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency has implemented the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements which requires all utilities to complete and submit an initial inventory identifying lead or galvanized service lines requiring replacement. This new rule also requires the City to notify customers of the status of their water service unless they have been confirmed to be non-lead. Customers have received notices from the City informing them of the unknown status of their water service line. This does not mean that the service line contains lead, it just confirms that the City doesn’t have enough information to prove lead doesn’t exist.
The City’s Water Resources website has a link to view the inventory of all connections in the water distribution system. The EPA has information regarding lead and copper on their website at: http://www.epa.gov/lead.
The City will continue to work to identify the status of each water connection in the water system and keep each customer informed if lead is present and discuss next steps.