The town of Livingston set to begin process of identifying any lead water lines within the city.
Tennessee Association of Utility Districts Representative J.W. Griffin said that this is a result of the Lead and Copper Pipe rule passed in December, 2021. He said that the goal is to hopefully get rid of lead that could affect the system.
“We would have to identify every lead service line in our system,” Griffin said. “And then in October of 2024 we would end up making a lead service line replacement plan and do new sampling procedures for that home.”
Griffin said that all 5,100 Livingston water customers will be given a questionnaire to help the water department find potential lead pipes. He said that the biggest indicator of lead pipes will be if your home or business was constructed before July 1988. Griffin said that across the nation, this rule would include both the homeowner side and the system side.
Mayor Curtis Hayes said that he wanted to make sure to get the word out to folks, because they need a 100 percent response rate. He said that they’ll be making plans to go door-to-door to ask for the public’s help, as well as providing an online option on the city’s website.
Alderman Kelly Coleman asked if there was any type of enforcement the government has when it comes to changing out the pipes if it is discovered down the road.
“That’s a question we’ve been asked a lot,” Griffin said. “In the federal regulation there’s not really much to that right now. The regulation specifically says that the system is not responsible for replacing customer-side plumbing. However if you go into the requirement to do a lead service line replacement, you don’t get credit unless that customer replaces their side.”
“You will be able to get the customer to sign an affidavit that says they understand they have a lead line and they are fine with that, which kind of relieves you from dealing with them anymore, but you still don’t get the credit.”
Griffin said that Livingston has “great” water and that he does not foresee many issues in that regard because of the good water source and the good operation Livingston has.
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