News Flash

City Minute

11-4-24

In coming days, most customers of the City of Phillipsburg’s water distribution system will be receiving a pamphlet of information named “Notification of Known or Potential Service Line Containing Lead”. This pamphlet is distributed as a requirement of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to all customers who have been determined that a portion of or the entire water pipe that connects your home, building or other structure to the water main is made from lead, galvanized material or unknown material. This determination has been made based on the Kansas Lead Service Line Inventory that was submitted to KDHE by the City of Phillipsburg this month. You may remember receiving a questionnaire or phone call asking about the plumbing within your home, building or other structure. We greatly appreciate all of those who provided that information and it was a part of the inventory submitted. Many others did not provide this information or were unsure about the plumbing in their homes, building and other structures which we had to leave as an “unknown determination”, which automatically triggered the distribution of the information within the pamphlet.

Lead and lead containing materials were very common in construction of water lines prior to 1987, when it was banned in water lines as a part of an amendment to the Safe Drinking Water Act. In 1991, the EPA established the Lead and Copper Rule requiring public water systems to monitor and minimize lead and copper in drinking water with corrosion control treatment. EPA regulations typically start with the largest systems and are implemented in tiers, based on population, over the course of several years. The City of Phillipsburg has been testing for lead and copper since 1995 as part of the routine sampling done in compliance with KDHE regulations for public water systems. KDHE is in charge of implementing EPA regulations for the state of Kansas.

Following the public health crisis that began in Flint Michigan in April of 2014, much attention has been put on lead in drinking water. A water crisis in Flint Michigan began when the city switched its water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River. The switch resulted in the pH of the water to become acidic which caused the water distribution pipes to corrode and contaminate the drinking water with lead and other contaminants. After implementing changes to their water system, the Flint Michigan Water crisis was said to have ended in February 1, 2019 but many legal implications still remain for that system.

Due to the large scale of the Flint Michigan water crisis, the EPA began looking at ways to prevent this from happening in other places. Broad sweeping changes have been made to the Lead and Copper Rule. Earlier this month, EPA issued a final rule requiring drinking water systems across the country to identify and replace lead pipes within 10 years. KDHE was leading the charge with these changes by requiring the lead line inventory even before the rule was finalized. While the specifics of how to complete lead line replacement within 10 years aren’t completely worked out yet, changes are coming to nearly every community in the nation.

What does that mean for Phillipsburg right now?

The distribution system that has delivered water to the community for many decades contains some lead service goosenecks, an old lead packed joint main line (which we are working on replacing in stages as it lies under State Street) and many older galvanized steel lines. It has been a practice of the Public Works Department for more than 30 years to remove lead service goosenecks, as they have been discovered, with newer materials that don’t contain lead.

In 1991, a new water plant was built which allowed the City of Phillipsburg to utilize lime softening in the water treatment process. We are able to manage the pH of the water and its chemical properties to greatly reduce the chances of corrosion of the pipes within our distribution system. We are considered a “scaling system” which means the water produces a thin layer of calcium that acts as corrosion protection for our pipes. The average pH of our water is higher than 7 on the pH scale which means it is not acidic which helps prevent lead from being leached out of materials in the distribution system.

Evidence of the effectiveness of this corrosion control practice is found in the results of the sampling that has been done over the last 29 years within our distribution system. At no time have we exceeded the action levels set by the EPA and KDHE put us into a reduced monitoring category based on the very low levels of lead and copper found in the samples tested. Most samples come back with levels that are lower than what is able to be detected by standard lab testing. The samples that do show lead are ten times below the EPA’s action level. Simply put, our corrosion control measures are working to keep you safe from the potential of lead contamination.

If you have further questions, please feel free to contact Tim Driggs at the City Office or email tdriggs@cityofphillipsburg.com to answer your questions or concerns.