Governor Granholm recently signed into law a series of bills aimed at eliminating the threat of lead poisoning in children. The bills target the greatest source of lead poisoning—exposure to dust or chips from old lead-based paint, which was commonly used before the 1970s.

The bills create a lead-safe housing registry that will identify homes and apartments that have been cleared of lead-based paint hazards. They also establish a childhood lead poisoning prevention and control commission. The bills also prohibit rental agents, landlords or property owners from renting housing if they know the dwelling has a lead-based paint hazard.

While lead paint poses the greatest health threat, drinking water can also be a source of lead exposure. Consumers can eliminate this threat by taking simple precautions.

There’s no detectable lead present in your drinking water source. But if drinking water comes into contact with lead-based pipes or fixtures for an extended period of time, small amounts of lead can dissolve into your drinking water. Potential sources for this contact are:

·    Service pipes that deliver your drinking water from the water main in the street to your plumbing inside your house, if those pipes are made of lead.

·    Lead plumbing or copper plumbing joined by lead-based solder in your home’s plumbing system (lead-based solder wasn’t banned until 1988 and was commonly used before that time).

·    Brass plumbing fixtures in your home (even brass fixtures that qualify as “lead-free” can have up to 8% lead in them).

The BWL has launched an aggressive ten-year replacement campaign to remove all the 12,000 lead
service lines still in our water system. Meanwhile, here are two simple precautions you should take to eliminate lead exposure from any of these sources:

·    If your water has been sitting in pipes for six hours or longer, flush the old water from your plumbing before using any for drinking or cooking. Usually it takes between 30 seconds and a minute for the water to turn noticeably colder, signaling that you’re getting fresh water from the main in the street.

·    Always use water from the cold water tap for any consumption, because lead dissolves more easily into warm or hot water.

If you’re a customer who heads south for warmer weather for part of the winter, you may want to consider discontinuing your water service while you’re gone.

Besides eliminating the possibility of a disaster caused by a broken water pipe, you can also save money. That’s because only part of your water bill is based on your usage, so even if you’re gone, you’ll continue to be billed a monthly charge to cover such things as customer service, billing, maintaining our water plants and other fixed costs.

The fixed monthly charge is based on the size of your water service—$6.20 per month for customers with a 5/8 inch meter, or $8.68 for those with a 3/4 inch meter. The monthly charge is larger for commercial and industrial customers with bigger meters.

Some customers choose to have their water shut off if they’re going to be gone for more than a month. If they’re a sewer customer, this avoids the monthly charge for both utilities. When they return, we turn their service back on for a seven dollar fee. You can arrange for a water shut off by calling our Customer Service Center at 702-6006.

Urban Options, a local nonprofit organization, will send an Energy Specialist to your home to provide you with up to eight money-saving improvements, and give you a helpful information packet and safety tips. There are a limited number of openings.

Remember, this program fills up fast. To sign up, call Urban Options at 337-0422.

or business.

During the winter, our employees sometimes face hazards from snow or ice. Please make sure snow and ice are removed from the access routes to your meter. Our meter readers are instructed not to place themselves in harm’s way. If a slipping hazard exists, we may choose to estimate your usage rather than risk injury to our employee.

To ensure a proper read of your electric and water meter, and to help create a safe work environment for our employees, please make sure we have easy and safe access to your meters.

Thanks to all BWL customers who contributed during the last year to our Pennies for Power program.

For those who don’t know, Pennies for Power invites customers to round up their BWL utility bill to the next highest dollar, with the change going into a fund to prevent utility shutoffs to low income customers. Over the last year, these pennies added up to more than $42,000. More than $232,000 has been raised since the program’s inception in 1998.

We want you to know your donations have been put to good use. Capital Area Community Services (CACS) administers Pennies for Power and over the last year they provided energy assistance to some 217 families in the Greater Lansing area.

You can contribute to Pennies for Power in one of three ways. You can round up your monthly bill, pledge a set amount each month, or make a one-time contribution. It’s easy to sign up, too. Just print and fill out the form and mail it with your BWL utility payment.