DNR Survey Shows Most Water Lines in Iowa Contain No Lead

by Brian Wilson
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A federally mandated survey finds a majority of the water lines serving Iowa homes do not contain lead. DNR Drinking Water Program coordinator Heidi Cline says there are still a small amount of lead lines in use.

The inventories found 81% of the lines were not lead, almost 14% were undetermined and less than two percent were galvanized lines that need to be replaced. The survey is part of the federal effort to get rid of lead water pipes following the severe health and other problems caused by lead pipes in Michigan. Cline says a federal lead water pipes ban went into effect in 1988, so most of the homes with lead pipes tend to be older.

Cline says Iowa water systems still need to figure out how many of the undetermined lines are lead.

Cline says the next step would be getting rid of the lead pipes. Many of the lines inside homes are owned by the homeowner, and the federal rules don’t say who should pay for getting the lead out.

Cline says water systems have some funding available to help get rid of lead pipes, but there’s likely to be disagreements about who is going to pay.

Cline says you should have received a notice from your utility about the types of pipes you have and if changes need to be made. You can find out more about the survey at www.iowadnr.gov/Environmental-Protection/Water-Quality/Drinking-Water-Compliance/Lead-Service-Line-Inventories. Cline says the EPA is still compiling information from other states and doesn’t have that available to get a comparison to how Iowa compares to them when it comes to the number of lead service lines.

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