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Atchison to Mail KDHE Lead-and-Copper Notices After Inventory Finds No Confirmed Lead Lines
Summary
City officials said they will send KDHE pamphlets to property owners after a recent inventory found no confirmed lead service lines but identified galvanized pipes and fewer than 50 unknown service connections out of about 4,300 inspected.
City Manager Mark Westhoff told the Atchison City Commission that the city will mail pamphlets supplied by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) to properties with suspected lead or galvanized service lines, as required by state guidance.
"There are no public or private service lines that are identified as lead," Westhoff said, summarizing a recent inventory completed by Public Works. He added that the inventory found a number of galvanized pipes and a "handful of unknowns" that will require follow-up to identify material.
Westhoff said the unknowns amount to "less than 50 out of the 4,300 services that we inventory," and that determining the material in buried connections may require potholing (excavating to expose the pipe). He said staff will reach out to some property owners to obtain information about private-side service materials.
The KDHE communication included a timeline for mailing the pamphlet; Westhoff said notices must be sent "within the next 60 days." He also told commissioners the city had budgeted funds that would cover the follow-up work related to the inventory and that the KDHE reminder does not change that budgeting.
No formal action was required or taken by the commission on the notices during the meeting. Next steps staff described were mailing the KDHE pamphlet to owners of properties with galvanized or unknown materials and conducting targeted potholing where necessary to confirm pipe composition.
