New tests show lead levels meet mandated guidelines

Line replacement will continue, PWSA says

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Lead levels in the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority system dipped below a key federal threshold in recent testing, PWSA announced Tuesday.

Still, PWSA plans to forge ahead with ongoing work to reduce lead contamination, including the replacement of lead service lines, city and authority officials said. They said the test results won’t lessen any of those efforts.

“It’s gratifying to see [lead levels] go down, but reality is that we would like to see no lead in the samples,” said Robert A. Weimar, the PWSA interim executive director. “Ultimately, our goal is to remove all the lead from the water system.

“At present, while we are satisfied that the lead levels have not increased significantly, we are not satisfied with the levels that we’re at,” he said.

In mid-2016, state-mandated checks in 100 homes with known or suspected lead pipes found that 17 percent exceeded a federal lead contamination threshold of 15 parts per billion. The state Department of Environmental Protection ordered those tests after PWSA twice switched the chemicals used to control pipe corrosion without notifying the state.

The results triggered a state and federal mandate that PWSA replace at least 7 percent of its lead service lines each year. Service lines connect each building’s internal plumbing to a water main beneath the street.

By December, 90 percent of tested samples showed lead at 18 parts per billion or fewer. That was down from 22 ppb in June that year.

In testing in June, samples taken at 128 residential sites revealed 77 percent were below 10 ppb for lead, with 90 percent at or below the crucial 15 ppb figure under federal rules, according to PWSA.

“The 15 ppb value meets the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency action level for lead and is not an exceedance,” PWSA said in a statement. The authority said it must repeat the lead compliance testing every six months until 90 percent of tested samples show 15 ppb — or fewer — for two consecutive rounds of tests.

Then the requirement for lead service line replacements would be lifted, at least technically, according to the DEP.

However, PWSA is negotiating a consent order with the DEP after the authority missed an initial target for lead line replacements. That order will probably influence future monitoring expectations,Mr. Weimar said.

“DEP is reviewing the information provided by PWSA on its lead service line replacement program and potential next steps,” the state agency said in a statement. Last month, PWSA halted a practice for some replacements that’s tied to elevated risks of lead contamination.

City and PWSA officials have said they will continue to replace lead service lines and take other steps to reduce lead, even if contamination levels remain below the government threshold for mandatory mitigation. In addition to replacing lead lines, PWSA has been working toward lower lead levels by reworking the anti-corrosion chemicals in treated tap water.

Exposure to the metal is linked to developmental and other health problems.

“We have stabilized the operation of the water plant, but that — in and of itself -— shouldn’t have resulted in a change to reduce the [lead] levels by any appreciable amount,” Mr. Weimar said. He said variability in the test results “could be substantial,” noting that residents who take the samples may not always follow testing protocols.

PWSA recommends that customers — “certainly those known to have lead lines” — keep flushing the lines and use filters, at least until the authority “can demonstrate our chemical treatments are sufficient to significantly reduce lead levels” below accepted standards or “their lead service line is replaced,” Mr. Weimar said. A complete schedule for replacements has yet to be established.

“While the work on the issue by the city and the PWSA over the past year is clearly paying off, there is still a lot of work to do, and water users need to keep following PWSA guidance on how to reduce exposure to contaminants,” Mayor Bill Peduto said in a statement. “Testing does not remove the fact that lead in water is still a grave public health matter, especially for pregnant women and young children, and we need to do all we can to eradicate it.”