Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Infrastructure Water topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Rome outlines lead-service inventory effort tied to EPA rule, seeks resident self-reporting
Summary
City officials said Rome must inventory up to 500 water service lines under a revised EPA rule and urged residents to self-report service-line photos and information; the city is pursuing grant opportunities that favor larger inventories.
City officials told the Rome Common Council on March 26 that a revised federal Lead and Copper Rule requires municipalities to inventory water service lines and that Rome is pursuing resident self-reporting to meet federal deadlines.
Commissioner Giuliano (Department of Public Works) said the rule requires municipalities to inventory services “whether they’re lead, copper, or galvanized.” He said the city submitted an initial inventory to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in October 2024 and has “just under two years left to do that,” adding that the city must show progress on inventories in the Octobers of 2025 and 2026.
Giuliano said the EPA wants up to 500 services inventoried with photographic proof and that the city lacks the personnel to schedule inspections of 500 homes. “That’s what we’re relying on: the self-reporting of the residents to do right now,” he said. The city is ramping up outreach — including presentations at community centers — to help residents identify pipe types, photograph their service line and submit the form.
Giuliano said municipal staff are pursuing funding opportunities that open in May (grant application window) and that having a larger inventory will improve Rome’s grant competitiveness. He described a fallback plan that would use “machine learning” and the city’s historical water department records and work orders to predict likely lead services if resident response is insufficient, noting that such predictive inventories are weaker evidence for grant applications than photographed self-reports.
Councilor Anderson and others asked about uptake; Giuliano said the city has increased from roughly one contact per week to a couple per day but remains below the 500-service goal. Officials said they will continue social-media outreach, public meetings and targeted visits to senior centers to help residents with submissions.
Giuliano and councilors emphasized the inventory is a federal mandate and not a city order to force residents to replace pipes. “The city is not going to make you change your lead pipes,” a council member said during committee reports, noting the exercise is an inventory and planning step required by the EPA.
City officials encouraged residents to look for the public notice, take photographs showing the connection between the meter/service and the house, and to use city outreach events for help completing the form.
