More than 300,000 San Antonio Water System customers have been notified about potential lead in their water pipes.
A new requirement by the Environmental Protection Agency pushes utilities to identify lead issues in homes to ensure the safety of drinking water.
SAWS officials said they believe most lead service lines have already been removed and replaced. Notices were mainly to customers with homes built before 1989.
Those customers can register for a free inspection, conduct their own inspection or contract with a licensed plumber. SAWS said it plans to use that information to create a service line inventory and publish it on its website.
“There are more than 600,000 customer service lines in San Antonio, more than half of which are made of unidentified service line materials,” said Kirstin Eller, a SAWS potable water quality supervisor, in October. “This monumental task requires an extensive effort that can only be achieved by physically going to our customers’ homes and inspecting service lines individually — which is why we need their help.”
