Village to mail public notice after water-service materials inventory mismatch flagged under federal rule

Village of Hortonville public works staff reported on Feb. 20 that the materials inventory submitted this fall for the village’s water utility — part of compliance with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lead-and-copper rule — does not match the number of service lines reported in the village’s 2023 Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC) report. That discrepancy under the rule creates a paperwork violation that requires the village to send a public notice to all water customers.

Public Works Director Aaron told trustees the village met the submission deadlines but that the inventories differ; staff believe some private-well information was mistakenly included in the materials list submitted to the Department of Natural Resources. Aaron said the village is working with its consultant, MSA, to reconcile the two reports and will resubmit corrected inventory information to the DNR.

Aaron said there is no known lead in the village water system and that sending the notice is a paperwork requirement triggered by the mismatch rather than by detection of lead. The only cost associated with this compliance mailing is postage; staff identified Sean (consultant contact) as a knowledgeable point of contact to answer public questions.

Ending: Staff will mail the DNR-mandated notice to every water user, continue working with MSA to reconcile the inventory numbers, and resubmit corrected information to the DNR to remove the violation.