Contributing to

Katrina relief:

Those of us who live in Michigan counted our blessings last month as we watched the devastation of the Gulf Coast caused by Hurricane Katrina.

The outpouring of compassion from those in our community toward the victims of Hurricane Katrina has been truly inspiring.

In the week following the hurricane, BWL employees contributed $1,500 in cash donations for the American Red Cross, to be used in Katrina relief efforts. The BWL also donated more than 5,000 bottles of water that was included in a shipment delivered by Dan Henry Distributing Company in Lansing. The water was delivered to Baton Rouge, and distributed among several aid centers in the Gulf Region by Feed the Children, a private aid organization that provides food and other essentials to children and families in the United States and 57 foreign countries.

Through our membership in the American Water Works Association, the BWL has also registered with the National Emergency Resource Registry, an arm of the Federal Emergency Management Agency coordinating response efforts to communities affected by Hurricane Katrina.

It’s been 14 months since the BWL launched its program to educate our customers about lead in drinking water, and we’d like to report on our progress.

First, a quick review: The BWL is, and always has been, in compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulation covering lead in drinking water. That regulation requires utilities to sample water coming out of customer taps in a certain number of homes. Water systems are under the EPA’s “action level” if 90 percent of the homes tested have lead concentrations less than 15 parts per billion (ppb). To put that number in perspective, one part per billion is the equivalent of one drop in 500 barrels of water, or a pinch of salt in ten tons of potato chips.

Utilities that are over the EPA action level are required to begin replacing any lead service lines, and to start an education program informing customers about steps they can take to reduce lead in their drinking water. The BWL is below the lead action level, but we believe the issue of lead in drinking water is important enough that we’re taking action that goes beyond what regulations say we must do. Here’s a summary of what we’ve done over the last 14 months:

· In July 2004 we announced a program to remove all 13,000 lead service lines on our system by 2014. To date, more than 1,400 have been removed, and we’re on course to finish our project on time or ahead of schedule.

· Customers with lead service lines have been offered free water filters with replacement cartridges until their line is replaced by a standard copper service line. Coupons for free filters and initial cartridges were mailed this summer. Coupons for the first full year’s supply of replacement cartridges were mailed in late September and early October.

· The EPA regulation requires utilities our size to sample for lead levels in 43 homes. Instead, we’ve tested four times that number, and will soon report the results to the EPA.

· Utilities like the BWL that are under the EPA’s lead action level are required to sample for lead concentrations every third year. For the foreseeable future, we’ve committed to sampling our system every year.

· We’ve commissioned a detailed study to give us recommendations on ways we can improve our corrosion control program, which is the real key to reducing lead in drinking water. There’s no lead in drinking water when it leaves our conditioning plants. But, if water sits inside lead pipes or fixtures for long periods of time, microscopic amounts of lead dissolve into the water due to water’s naturally corrosive nature. Reduce the corrosiveness and lead concentrations go down.

· We’ve also commissioned a detailed study to discover the most effective way customers can flush lead from their tap water at home. This study concluded that, for customers with lead service lines, the EPA’s flushing guidelines may not be sufficient to protect customers from all lead exposure. We recommend that customers who have lead service lines flush their tap water for seven minutes before using water for drinking or cooking, if water in the house hasn’t run for six hours or more. As an alternative, they can use a BWL-supplied water filter for cooking or drinking. Customers with standard copper water services should flush their water until it turns cold. All customers should use only the cold water tap for water used for drinking or cooking.

Use our

number to report an electric outage

Violent storms can happen any time, even here in Michigan. And, despite our best efforts, those sometimes result in power outages.

If we have your current home phone number, you can report your outage quickly and easily by calling our PowerLine phone number at 1-877-BWL-5001. It’s a toll-free number that can handle up to 40,000 calls an hour so your call is practically assured of getting through to us.

PowerLine records your outage information quickly and automatically, but in order for it to work properly, it must recognize your telephone number. Check your BWL utility bill. If your correct phone number isn’t printed on it, please write it down in the space provided on your payment stub, and return it with your payment.

We’ll continue to keep our customers informed about lead issues. Click here for more information. You can also click here to go the EPA’s Web site, or call its Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791.

OCTOBER IS NATIONAL

BREAST CANCER

AWARENESS MONTH

All women are at risk of developing

breast cancer and that risk increases

with age. Early detection is the best

protection.

Current recommendations for

all women ages 20 to 39

include monthly breast

self-exams and a clinical breast examby a health care

provider every one to three years. Women 40 and older should perform monthly breast self-exams, see their healthcare provider every year for a clinical breast exam and have an annual mammogram. When detected early, survival rate for breast cancer is very high.

Encourage the women in your life to get breast cancer screening. For information about free breast screening and mammograms for qualified women over the age of 40, click here or call the Ingham County Health Department at 887-4364.