Lead and Copper Rule Update

Please contact leadcopper@lancaster-tx.com for any questions or queries.

City’s Historical Compliance with Rules, and Actions Taken to Meet New Rules

Lead and Copper Rule

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established the Lead and Copper Rule in 1988 to reduce lead and copper contamination in drinking water. This rule has undergone multiple revisions since it was initially published. More recently, the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (2021) and proposed Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (2023) strengthen protections against potential lead exposure through drinking water. All water systems in the U.S., including the City of Lancaster, are required to take new actions related to the new rules.

The City has maintained a Lead and Copper Sampling Program since the original Lead and Copper Rule was established in 1988. The purpose of this program is to provide safe water to our customers. Historically, the program included system-wide plans and procedures to monitor and maintain water quality and minimize lead and copper in the distribution system. The City performs frequent water quality sampling throughout the distribution system and lead and copper sampling at customer’s households to proactively monitor the water quality in our system. The City of Lancaster has complied with this rule every year since implementation and has taken proactive action to test for lead annually. The EPA recently revised this rule, calling for cities nationwide to inventory water lines for lead presence to ensure water is not being contaminated when traveling through their pipes. Most homes do not have lead pipes since cities stopped using this material around the 1960s. However, the 2023 Rule Improvements require a city-wide service line material inventory to identify houses that may still unknowingly use lead waterlines. Each city must submit the inventory by October 2024 and make it publicly available for customer review. It has been a long-standing practice of the City to identify and replace any materials found throughout the distribution system that may decrease the water quality of the system. Since monitoring for lead and copper in 1989, the City has always been compliant with the Lead and Copper Rule.  

Lead and Copper Rule Revision (LCRR) and Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI)

The EPA published the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (2021) and Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (2023) in an effort to strengthen the requirements of the LCR. The most relevant updated requirements are:

  • Expand the sampling program in accordance with the recent revisions of the Lead and Copper Rule, the expanded sampling will begin in 2028.
  • Develop and maintain a publicly accessible service line material inventory. This inventory allows customers to view the material type of City-owned (public) and customer-owned (private) service lines throughout the distribution system. The figure below distinguishes between a public and private service line.
  • Develop a service line identification strategy to identify unknown City-owned (public) and customer-owned (private) service lines.
  • Update sample sites, sample procedures and response actions to ensure sampling is conducted to optimally capture any potential lead exposure through the drinking water.
  • Strengthen the City’s public outreach to provide more accessible information and awareness to customers, including targeted outreach to schools and childcare facilities regarding their water quality.

Diagram of a water meterDescription automatically generated

The City has taken proactive measures to address the changes in the regulation and has taken several steps towards compliance:

  • Completed an initial risk and resource assessment with Freese and Nichols, Inc. (2023) to identify and implement new goals for the City’s Sampling Program to come into compliance with the revisions of the Lead and Copper Rule.
  • Performed a comprehensive record and data review to develop an initial service line material inventory.
  • Identified service line material for every school and licensed childcare center in the distribution system.
  • Conducting ongoing field investigations to identify any unknown service line materials.
  • Conducting routine water quality parameter sampling to monitor corrosivity of water flowing through the distribution system.
  • Conducting routine lead and copper testing at selected homes to monitor system-wide water quality.  

Additional Resources

Want to know more? Please refer to the links below:

EPA

CDC

TCEQ

  • Drinking Water Lead and Copper Program - Texas Commission on Environmental Quality - www.tceq.texas.gov

How to Use/Access the Available Inventory File

Service Line Material Inventory

In our commitment to transparency and public health, we are pleased to present our Service Line Material Spreadsheet. This easy-to-use online spreadsheet is designed in response to the EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR), allowing you to quickly determine the composition of your service line. By looking for your address, you can view detailed information about the material of your service line, including both the public-side service line—extending from the water main to the water meter—and the private-side service line—running from the water meter to your home. This spreadsheet displays the latest available information on service line materials.

If you have updated records or information regarding the service line to your address, please contact Lancaster’s Public Works Department at 972-275-1752.