HOMES WITH EXPECTANT MOMS &
KIDS UNDER 6 GET TOP PRIORITY

Health experts agree that the greatest danger of lead exposure comes from the chips and dust of crumbling lead-based paints, but drinking water can also be a potential source.

Young children and pregnant women are at greatest risk for lead exposure and are given the highest priority in the BWL’s lead water service replacement program. We’re on track to replace all lead water service lines by 2014, but members of this sensitive population are given priority treatment.

Please call our Customer Service Department at 702-6006 to be put on the priority replacement list. You can also call this number if you’re not sure but want to find out if your home has a lead service line.

BWL water has no detectable lead when it leaves our conditioning plants. If lead does show up in tap water, these are the known ways it can get there:

· From the service line connecting your house to the water main, if the service line is made of lead.

· From plumbing inside your house if you have lead pipes or copper plumbing joined with lead solder (homes built before 1988 may have been plumbed with lead solder).

· From plumbing inside your house if you have brass fixtures.

There are some simple precautions everyone can take to avoid exposure to lead in drinking water:

· Use only the cold-water faucet for drinking, cooking, making coffee or baby formula. That’s because hot water dissolves lead more quickly than cold water.

· Before using water for drinking or cooking, run the water until it’s as cold as it will get. This will flush out the old water that has been sitting in your pipes and provide you with fresh water from the water main. If your home has a lead service line, your flush time should be extended up to seven minutes if your water has been sitting idle in pipes for six hours or longer. Customers with lead water service lines can also use a BWL-supplied filter for water used for drinking or cooking.

For more information about lead in drinking water, click here.

Chili Cook-Off
heads up
Grand Weekend
in Lansing, June 2

Chiliheads from throughout mid-Michigan will gather along the banks of the Grand River in downtown Lansing in early June for the annual BWL Chili Cook-Off.

This year’s event on Friday,
June 2, kicks off Lansing’s Grand Weekend that includes two races, the annual Mayor’s River Walk, and Be a Tourist in Your Town. More about that in a minute, but for right now, we’re talking chili!

It’s the same great event at the same great place, along the river between Michigan Avenue and Shiawassee Street in downtown Lansing. From 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. we’ll be serving more than 1,500 gallons of chili from 40 great restaurants and organizations and handing out trophies to 25 of the best. That, plus sizzling hot blues music from local favorites, Zydacrunch and Those Delta Rhythm Kings. And, again this year, you can test your buckaroo skills on the Mechanical Bull.

Five dollars gets you in the gate. Chili Cook-Off proceeds go to Adopt A River and other local projects.

New Web site for

CAUW volunteers

The Capital Area United Way Volunteer Center has just launched a new Web site for residents of the Greater Lansing area who are interested in giving back to their communities.

This Web site has a variety of volunteer opportunities available on both a one-time and ongoing basis. Volunteers can search by keyword or area of interest, such as “youth” or “food.” Volunteers also have the option of creating a volunteer profile where service hours are tracked, and they can enter those areas of interest and abilities that they would like to share with local nonprofit agencies.

The site also lists opportunities for groups that wish to volunteer together. To get started, click here. For questions, call Suzenne at
203-5033.

Full lead service water line?
We’ll sample your home for free

BWL water customers with full lead service lines are invited to join our lead sampling program again this year.

Participating customers will receive a free analysis of drinking water lead content in their homes and will be notified of the results. Last year, 121 customers participated in our lead sampling program. Results of the sampling will determine whether the BWL is in compliance with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations governing lead in drinking water.

Last year’s tests confirmed that lead levels in BWL drinking water remain below the EPA’s lead action level. They also showed that lead concentrations have declined slightly since the last time sampling occurred.

Utilities with sampling results that fall below the EPA lead action level are required to sample homes in their system every three years. Because of the great attention given to this issue in our community, however, the BWL has committed to annual sampling for the foreseeable future. We’ve also committed to sample more than the 43 homes that we’re required to include in our sampling program.

In fact, we’re offering free sampling to any residential water customer who has a lead service line all the way from the water main in the street to the water meter in the customer’s house. These “full lead” service lines must be included in our sampling program, according to the EPA.

To sign up for a free lead sample or to find out if your home is served by a full lead service line, call our Customer Service Center at 702-6006. Our sampling will take place from June through September.