EPA REQUIRING MUNICIPALITIES TO INVENTORY CUSTOMER WATER SERVICES

UPDATE 8-2-2024 CITY WILL BE CONDUCTING INVENTORY OF WATERLINES FROM AUGUST 3 THROUGHOUT THE MONTH STARTING AT 6AM TO 7PM. Download Flyer for more information

The City of Fort Lauderdale along with other municipalities providing potable drinking water to their utility customers are required by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to conduct an inventory of their water customer services located between the water meter and the house connection. If these water services are made of lead material, then these lead services are required to be replaced within ten (10) years per the EPA, preferably much sooner. The lead material was used for customer water services in older developments generally before the 1940’s, but most customer water services installed after the 1940’s consisted of other metallic materials such as cast iron and galvanized steel which reacts dielectrically with the copper tubing/piping within the dwellings. Most of these metallic pipes were ultimately replaced with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes which is an inert material and does not react with other metallic pipes. The older dwellings that have internal copper water piping were generally soldered with lead until the 1980’s and needs to be inspected and replaced if lead soldering was used as it also is detrimental to human health and life. There are no safe levels of lead exposure as it can cause increased blood pressure, heart disease, decreased kidney function, and cancer. In children, lead can severely harm mental and physical development, slowing down learning and damaging the brain.

-Ralph Zeltman-