SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio Water System (SAWS) will provide free service line inspections to identify lead and galvanized water service lines for customers as part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new requirement.
SAWS says beginning next week, customers who are identified in SAWS service areas with unknown, lead, or galvanized service lines, can expect to receive a letter from SAWS informing them of their status.
SAWS says it has been removing lead service lines since the 1980s and believes these efforts have resulted in the removal and replacement of most lead service lines from the utility-owned side of the system.
This new outreach instead focuses on identifying lead issues on the customer side as part of efforts by the EPA to ensure the safety of drinking water nationwide.
SAWS will roll out the outreach to customers beginning October 16 and throughout the following weeks. Customers with homes built before 1989 that register here may be eligible for free inspection. SAWS will contact eligible customers to schedule their inspection and complete the proper paperwork.
SAWS says physical inspections meant to properly identify the type of service line material in a customer’s yard may include potholing, a meter box inspection or the investigation of exposed pipes in crawl spaces.
Customers can also conduct the inspection themselves or with the help of a licensed plumber and then submit the required information and documentation.
“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, SAWS Potable Water Quality Supervisor. “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.”
SAWS says its service line inventory will be published online beginning Oct. 16.
