Tennessee American Water outlines lead service‑line inventory plan for East Ridge, says cost and customer responsibility remain unresolved

Tennessee American Water told the East Ridge City Council on June 25 that it is beginning a multi‑year effort to identify and, eventually, replace any lead service lines in the utility’s system.

John Sparkman, director of engineering at Tennessee American Water, briefed the council and said the company is “not in any kind of crisis,” but must comply with an updated 2024 federal Lead and Copper Rule that requires utilities to catalog and remove lead service lines. He said the company’s Sitico treatment plant produces roughly 40 million gallons a day and the system includes about 1,400 miles of pipe.

The company described the service line as the pipe from the distribution main to the house, with ownership traditionally split at the meter: the utility side (main to meter) and the customer side (meter to house). Sparkman said EPA’s rule treats the run as a single service line for inventory purposes, which creates a new requirement to know what material exists on the customer side as well as the utility side.

Why it matters: lead service lines can be a source of lead exposure in drinking water, and the EPA’s updated rule aims to accelerate replacement. Identifying whether a household’s service line contains lead is the first step before any replacement work and affects both public‑health planning and budgetary needs for utilities and local governments.

What the utility will do: Sparkman said Tennessee American Water will use a layered verification program. The company is encouraging customer self‑reports through a web portal (including photo uploads), using its records where available, conducting door‑to‑door canvassing in sample neighborhoods, and performing targeted hydro‑excavation (“potholing”) near the meter to confirm the material. He said the company has started limited potholing in other districts and plans to bring those methods to East Ridge later this year.

Timeline and scope: Sparkman said the utility expects to complete the inventory phase through about the end of 2027 and then move into staged replacement planning from roughly 2027 to 2037, depending on the number of lead lines found.

What is known about historical use: Sparkman summarized the company’s records: galvanized pipe before about 1922, limited use of lead from roughly 1923–1928 and again briefly around World War II (about 1941–1944), with widespread copper use in much of the mid‑20th century. He said available records show the last recorded use of lead on the utility side was in 1944 and that lead service occurrences appear dispersed by the year houses were built rather than clustered in one neighborhood.

Unresolved questions: Council members asked whether homeowner property owners would be responsible for replacing customer‑side pipe if it proved to be lead. Sparkman said that question has not been resolved and that Tennessee American Water intends to seek regulatory clarity from the Tennessee Public Utilities Commission before committing to a payment approach. “We will be seeking regulatory clarity,” he said.

Practical limitations: When asked whether residents could simply look under a meter lid to determine material, Sparkman explained meter setters and short pigtails often obscure the actual service‑line material, so photographs of a meter box alone are frequently insufficient. He said photographic submissions to the portal will help staff triage reports; unclear submissions will prompt follow‑up verification.

Public information: Sparkman noted the utility maintains a public map where residents can look up an address to see whether the line is listed as lead, non‑lead or unknown. He cautioned that homes built after 1988 are essentially guaranteed non‑lead on the customer side, but many older customer‑side entries remain listed as unknown.

Next steps: Sparkman said the utility will coordinate with the city before conducting neighborhood canvassing and street work. He asked the council and city staff to share information with residents about the web portal and verification process.

Context/limit on reporting: The council’s briefing focused on company plans to identify service‑line materials; no replacement funding or specific customer compensation plan was announced at the meeting.

What’s next: The utility will continue gathering self‑reports and begin additional verification work in East Ridge later this year; the company expects to have inventory results that will inform replacement timing and cost allocation over the next several years.