BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — Homeowners and renters have been contacting us saying they're concerned over letters arriving from city, towns and villages asking them to help identify possible water lead lines in homes.
This is part of an Environmental Protection Agency mandate and it's happening across the country to make sure lead is not in your drinking water.
Right now, letters, like this one from the Town of Tonawanda are surveying residents, saying the drinking water service line into the home is “unknown” and it asks residents to help determine the type of pipe on their property.
I did more digging to find out what this means and why residents are upset.
“I was like, 'Have I been drinking lead water for eight years?' I don't know,” said Kenneth Wolf.
I met Wolf at the home he's been renting in Tonawanda for the last eight years. He's upset after receiving the letter from the town.
“We're all confused,” Wolf replied.
So, I met with Town of Tonawanda supervisor Joseph Emminger to get some answers.
"We do have to do the survey. Federal law mandates that we do the survey,” Emminger explained. “Everybody in the country is kind of doing the same thing.”
Cities, towns, and villages across the country are working to identify homes with lead service lines.
The New York State Department of Health created a video saying with a screwdriver and a magnet, you can check to see if your pipe is made of lead.
“If the scratched area is shining and silver, the service line is made of lead,” the narrator described. “A magnet will not stick to a lead pipe."
Supervisor Emminger told me his town has issued 18,000 letters, and so far only four homes have lead pipes.
“We sent out 18,000 letters. Of those 18,000 letters...there's been, like, 11,000 that we have ruled out completely, not having them. Of the additional 11,000 that we looked at, only four, four homes were identified as having lead pipes. So, this is going to be a very minimal lift, I believe, for the resident, isn't like 1,000s of homes are going to be impacted with this,” responded Emminger.
What remains unclear is if homeowners will be stuck paying to replace those lines.
I wanted to help you understand more about your home's water service line, so I met with master plumber Frank DiMaria. He just replaced a damaged water line in the village of Kenmore.
"It is your responsibility all the way to the main,” explained DiMaria.
"Some houses, especially even on this street, they may have a copper line that goes from the main to their shut off, which is in the grass, and then you only have to change it from the shut off to the house,” DiMaria noted. “Which is in the grass, and then you only have to change it from the shut off to the house, and so now you're in the grass, and you're probably looking around $5,000 to do something like that.”
DiMaria noted that if an identified lead line is leaking, it must be replaced with copper.
“You definitely have to go back with copper, you can’t just patch a line,” commented DiMaria.
The state DOH issued the following statement:
"If a customer receives a letter, it does not mean that lead has been detected in their drinking water. If a customer receives a letter that the service line material is unknown, they can assist their water supplier by identifying and reporting the service line material to the water supplier. The New York State Department of Health has a video [youtube.com] that shows how customers can easily determine the service line material. Customers should refer to the service line material letter for instructions on how to report this information to their water supplier."
Under the federation regulations, the lead lines must be removed by 2037.
Emminger told me he's hoping to create grants to help homeowners pay for replacement lines, but right now nothing has been created.
“There is a law that we have to follow that we can’t gift public monies to private individuals,” Emminger noted. “We’ll do everything that we can.”
Wolf told me he believes the government should figure it out for property owners.
“It shouldn’t be put on the homeowners. It should be put on the Town of Tonawanda,” said Wolf.
