Over the last several weeks, we’re sure you’ve read things in the news about lead in drinking water. It’s true that there are between 12,000 and 14,000 lead service lines in the BWL’s water service territory. These service lines connect a customer’s house to the water main in the street. Lead was a common construction material used by most water utilities from the 1920s into the early 1950s.

There’s no lead in BWL drinking water when it leaves our conditioning plants. Lead can dissolve into the water if the water sits for several hours in pipes or fixtures that contain lead. If lead shows up in your tap water it gets there from one of the following ways:

· From your service line if it’s made of lead

· From your indoor plumbing if you have lead pipes or copper plumbing joined by lead solder.

· From your indoor plumbing if you have brass fixtures.

EPA rules require us to periodically test a certain number of homes most likely to accumulate lead. The tap water of ninety percent of those homes must have lead concentrations of less than 15 parts per billion after the water has been sitting stagnant in pipes for at least six hours.

 

 

The BWL is in compliance with the EPA regulations and always has been. But we have noticed an increase in lead concentrations in 2001 and 2002, the last two years lead sampling was conducted. This has prompted us to re-examine our corrosion control program. That’s a program designed to protect against lead or other minerals dissolving into the water.

 

 

New sewer rates take effect for City of Lansing sewer customers, starting October 1.

The new rates were approved by Lansing City Council May 17, 2004, as part of the budget for the 2005 fiscal year. The sewage bill is determined by a combination of a fixed monthly charge and by how much a customer uses the sewer system as indicated by the water meter.

For City of Lansing residents, the new rates increase the fixed monthly charge from $6.70 to $7.34 per month for all users. The commodity charge increases from $3.83 to $3.96 per hundred cubic feet of water processed. One hundred cubic feet is equal to 748 gallons of water. Commercial and industrial customers also pay an Industrial Pretreatment charge, which increases from $2.88 to $3.25 per month October 1.

The average residential customer processing about 4,500 gallons of water per month will see an increase of $1.42 per month, a rise of about four percent.

For efficiency and convenience to customers, Lansing drinking water and sewer charges appear on the same bill, although sewer rates are set by Lansing City Council and water rates are set by the Board of Water & Light Commissioners. Drinking water rates set by the BWL are not affected by this change.

  

The BWL’s corrosion control program goes back to 1997 when we began adding small amounts of phosphate to water at our conditioning plants. This product forms a thin coating on the inside of pipes, providing a barrier that keeps lead from dissolving into the water. We used a branded product called Aquadene and it appeared to be effective. Over the next three years, our sampling experienced a decrease in lead concentrations in BWL drinking water.

But for the latest two sampling years – 2001 and 2002 – our sampling detected an increase in lead levels in the homes we tested. In 2000 we switched to an approved generic product for our corrosion control program. We don’t have proof that the switch in products was the cause of the increased lead levels, but it happened at about the same time.

This June we returned to Aquadene as our corrosion control agent. It takes a while for the thin coating to develop on the inside of pipes, so we didn’t expect this switch to have an immediate impact. But, we are hoping to see a reduction in lead levels by the time we sample again next summer. We’ll continue to monitor the situation and report the results to our customers.

Meanwhile, please remember two simple steps will protect customers from lead in drinking water:

· If water has been sitting in your interior pipes for six hours or more, run your faucet until the water turns cold. That ensures the old water has been flushed from your pipes and you’re getting fresh water from the water main. This will take from 30 seconds to two minutes.

· Always use the cold water faucet for drawing water used for cooking or consumption.

 

 

 

 

                   

Impression 5 Science Center hosts the 12th annual Capital City River Run on Sunday, September 26.

Events include a 10-mile run, 5K run/walk, or Marathon Training and, for children, the Smile Mile and Slime Dash. As one of the area’s premier races, the CCRR promotes good health by offering a family oriented event combining fun with fitness. The event is endorsed by the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness Health and Sports.

Information for the event is available at www.ccriverrun.org, or www.impression5.org. Registration forms are available at Impression 5 Science Center and Playmakers. You may also register at www.gaultracemanagement.com.