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Utility staff report narrows potential lead-service lines; council adopts updated water policies
Summary
Utility staff said physical verification reduced possible lead-service lines to 37 and avoided mass EPA letters; council adopted updated water operating procedures including flushing, hydrant maintenance and cross-connection control policies.
City utility staff reported progress on the lead and copper inventory and presented updates to the city’s water policies, which the council adopted by motion on Nov. 12.
Utility staff said crews performed physical verification of service-line materials and inspected roughly 800 services in about a month, narrowing the pool of potentially impacted services to 37 that require further digging and verification. "Out of the entire system narrowed it down to 37 services that had galvanized pipe," one utility speaker said. Staff said the work eliminated the need to send EPA-recommended letters to many customers.
Separately, administration presented updated water policies prepared by Water and Sewer Supervisor Chris Todd and signed off by Utility Director Scott (referred to in the meeting as Scott Paris/Scott Harris in different places in the transcript). The council voted to adopt standard operating procedures, a flushing program policy, a fire-hydrant flow and maintenance policy, and a cross-connection control policy. Staff said these updates reflect best practices and modernize operating procedures and documentation.
The policies were adopted by council motion during the meeting; staff and council praised Todd and the utility team for the inventory and policy work.
Next steps: staff will continue the verification work on the 37 services and carry out policy implementation, including updating field procedures and reporting to the council as needed.
