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Resident asks city to clarify water-testing schedule after regulator notice
Summary
A resident questioned a mailed notice about non-compliance and asked when the city tests for lead and copper; public works staff said the mailed form was a required regulator notice, that an inventory not a test had been performed, the city missed a notification deadline (clerical error), and that lead/copper sampling occurs on a three-year cycle with the last sampling in 2023.
At the start of the meeting, resident John Cleveland raised concerns about a mailed utility notice that referenced a period of non-compliance and warned "there's no safe level of lead in drinking water," which he said appeared alarming without context. Cleveland said he had previously requested water-quality reports and that the most recent he received was from 2019; he asked how often the city tests and what the Texas requirements are for sampling.
Public works staff responded that the mailing was a regulator-required notification related to an inventory of service lines (an administrative inventory overseen by operator Matt Julian), not a water-quality test. Staff said the city missed a notification deadline and that sending the regulator's required form unedited was necessary; staff described the lapse as a clerical error and said there was no period when public health was at risk.
The public works speaker told council that lead and copper sampling is performed on a three-year schedule for the city and that the last lead/copper testing took place in 2023. Staff said the city's 2025 water quality report will be updated on the city website by the end of June or the beginning of July with the previous year's report and results required by the regulator.
John Cleveland requested clearer communications and more frequent or accessible test data; staff invited him and other residents to follow up with department staff or open-records requests for specific test records.
What to watch: Verify the city's posted water-quality report when it is published and review the sampling schedule and the regulator's required notification process.
Direct quotes from the meeting are quoted verbatim from the transcript.
