Residents urge action after alleged gaps in Las Cruces lead service-line inventory and sampling

Speakers at the Las Cruces City Council meeting on July 21 urged the city to address alleged inaccuracies in the Las Cruces Utilities service-line inventory and to offer required tap sampling under the revised Lead and Copper Rule.

Public commenters Lynn Moorerer and Liz Johnson told the council the city’s online inventory understates the number of properties with galvanized or lead-containing service lines and omits inspection dates, and that the utility is failing to offer tap sampling when customers ask. Moorerer said she brought “2 new discoveries,” including an inventory she said lists at least 56 properties as “galvanized requiring replacement” and inspection entries that indicate work done on Sundays and on Christmas Eve. She also urged the council to “hire a truly independent engineer with management experience to evaluate how the director and staffers are doing in complying with the new rule.”

Why it matters: The federal Environmental Protection Agency’s revisions to the Lead and Copper Rule require validated service-line inventories and, when consumers request it, sampling of taps where service lines are lead, galvanized requiring replacement, or unknown.…