News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
City of Livingston seeking community input on a water pipe questionnaire.
Mayor Curtis Hayes said the Environmental Protection Agency recently developed new rules for the control of lead and copper in potable water. He said as a result, the Livingston Water System is required to complete a Lead Service Line Inventory. He said the first question asks if the building was constructed before July 1988.
“If the answer is no, then thank you for the time and the survey is over,” Hayes said. “If the answer is yes, then it will ask you currently what is the service line construction that you have. Is it plastic, is it lead, is galvanized, is it copper, or is it unknown.”
Hayes said you can check the type of pipe using a magnet to check if a line is plastic or galvanized. To check for copper lines, Hayes said you can scratch the line with a key.
Hayes said the survey does not require Livingston Water customers to replace all of their pipes. He said this is simply for data collection purposes.
“The federal government, the state of Tennessee, nor the City of Livingston is going to be handing out any fines,” Hayes said. “No one is going to make you change all of your plumbing, which could cost a lot of money both for the individual and for the Livingston water customers. So that’s not it at all. This has simply been passed down from the federal government to the state of Tennessee to the local governments.”
Hayes said it is likely that many local water utility districts will be performing the same survey.
