Hendersonvilles Service Line Inventory, Compliance with EPAS New Lead and Copper Rule Revisions and Improvements
In 1991, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a regulation to control lead and copper in drinking water, called the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR). In 2021, the EPA updated and revised its Lead and Copper Rule (LCRR), strengthening regulations for reducing lead from drinking water to better protect children and communities.
LCRR mandates that water utilities nationwide increase tap water testing and create a service line database to check for the presence of lead pipes in water systems, and in elementary schools and daycares. Service lines carry water from the public water main into homes and buildings.
Hendersonville Water has been monitoring its water for lead and copper since 1991 and has always met EPA standards. Click here to learn more about Hendersonville's water quality efforts.
The full LCRR and LCRI can be found on the EPA’s website at https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/proposed-lead-and-copper-rule-improvements. The purpose of these revisions and improvements to the original lead and copper rule (1992), is to achieve a 100% lead service line replacement over the next 10 years, nationwide. This is a fantastic national goal, and we are doing our part to help.
The key things to know about the LCRR and LCRI for our community are listed below.
What is new regarding lead and copper in drinking water?
A Service Line Inventory was submitted to the EPA and The state of NC on October 16th 2024, meeting the compliance deadline. This inventory is a record of all the drinking water service line material on both Hendersonville owned pipe and customer owned pipe. You can view an interactive map of the inventory by clicking the map on the right hand side of this page!
How will this affect me?
The investigation process should be minimally impactful to you. If the City of Hendersonville discovers any service lines on the city side that needs to be replaced, we will contact you to make you aware of the work being scheduled. If the line that needs to be replaced is on the customer side, we will still contact you, and provide our recommendations for replacement options. The city is not responsible for maintaining or replacing customer owned service lines.
How does the inventory get completed?
We partnered with an engineering firm to determine areas of our system that are most likely to contain lead. Those areas are the places we are exposing sections of pipe to visually determine pipe material. Once this portion of the project is complete, we will take a random representative sample of our distribution system to build even more confidence in our inventory report. As this work is completed, we will begin replacement on the city owned lines, if necessary.
What will happen at customer water meters?
You may see Hendersonville Water and Sewer crews doing some light excavation around your water meter over the next few weeks to verify pipe material for our inventory. Hendersonville crews will be wearing high-visibility vests and driving Hendersonville Water & Sewer vehicles. So far, we have only identified galvanized iron service lines, and other non lead service line materials in these locations, but rest assured we will notify the customer directly if any lead service lines are located at their property.
What information is the City required to submit?
The state requires pipe material for both the City side and the customer side to be identified as either lead, non lead, galvanized iron requiring replacement, and unknown. Currently we have not identified any lead service lines, and are working on investigating our unknown pipe materials.
How can customers help?
If you know your service line (pipe) material, please fill out .
