Aquarion Water Company Corporate Communications
Lead and Copper Program
Are you curious as to whether you have lead in your drinking water? As a public service, Aquarion Water Company developed a website and ways to assist you in finding further information. The company sent a letter to all customers about the materials of their water service lines as part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR), to promote transparency and safety.
The “Notice of unknown water service materials” DID NOT mean that there was lead in your drinking water. The letter’s aim was to educate and to gather information about your service line. To assist customers in identifying service line materials, Aquarion produced a video and posted photos identifying the materials that would be representative of your service lines.
https://www.aquarionwater.com/water-quality/learn-about-lead
According to the Aquarion Water Company Lead and Copper Program, Aquarion does not have a record of a customer’s service line material. Customers are asked to check their address on the Service Line Inventory Map to confirm if their line is classified as unknown, and to help identify their service line material by filling out the Service Line Survey.
https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/90037ef48d37404ea44e09efaaddd588
Aquarion states that there is no lead in the water that leaves the their treatment plant, or in the large underground water mains that run the water to reach customers’ residences. Lead can enter your tap water through a service line, which brings water from the main to your house, and also from the pipes, plumbing and faucets inside your home.
Aquarion also adjusts the water’s chemistry to prevent corrosion that may result in lead at the tap. Each year, they report to customers the levels of lead and many other potentially hazardous substances that may be in water systems.
Depending on the age of your home, it may have lead lines, pipes, fittings, and/or fixtures. For example:
- Homes built in the mid-1950s may have galvanized iron or steel plumbing lines (galvanized pipes can corrode and trap lead).
- Homes built before 1988 may have lead service lines. With a few exceptions, most were installed in homes built before 1930.
- Homes built before 1988 may have plumbing with lead solder and/or brass components that may have lead.
- Water faucets and fixtures labelled “lead free,” but installed before 2014, may still have (low) levels of lead.
For additional information on how they monitor our water supply, see the Aquarion annual water quality report:
https://www.aquarionwater.com/water-quality/water-quality-reports
Sources: Aquarion Water Company, Learn About Lead, https://www.aquarionwater.com/water-quality/learn-about-lead; Aquarion Water Company Lead and Copper Program; Aquarion Water Company Lead and Copper Program Customer Service
