Town of Black Mountain survey to inventory drinking water infrastructure

EPA lead and copper line replacement rule mandates service line assessment

Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
July 10, 2024

The Town of Black Mountain is asking water customers to participate in an online survey of its current infrastructure. The program, which seeks to create an inventory of water service lines, is in response to an EPA mandate. File photo

The Town of Black Mountain is tapping local residents and customers in an effort to comply with a federal Lead and Copper Rule, established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in December of 2020. 

The regulation requires municipalities to establish a comprehensive inventory of drinking water infrastructure by Wednesday, Oct. 16. Black Mountain water customers whose property was connected to the water system before 1988 are asked to complete an online survey to assist the process. 

The EPA directive, put in place following the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, is part of an unfunded federal mandate aimed at enhancing water quality across communities, emphasizing inventory and replacement of lead and galvanized steel service lines. Water providers are required to catalog service lines on the utility and customer sides of the water meter. 

While Black Mountain’s drinking water system has not demonstrated elevated lead levels, according to annual testing results, the Town began its inventory process last February.

"This is a positive step towards enhancing the quality of our water infrastructure," Assistant Town Manager and Planning Director Jessica Trotman said. "Nothing is more important than the health and safety of our residents. We encourage everyone to visit our Town website (townofblackmountain.org) for detailed information on the Lead and Copper Final Rule expansion and to review water quality reports."

Town property data indicates approximately one-third of existing structures were built in 1988 or later, according to Trotman, following the full implementation of the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1986. Owners of older properties are asked to complete a short survey and attach a photo of their water line connection to their building. An instructional video, produced by the City of Asheville, is embedded on the Town of Black Mountain’s Lead and Copper Line Replacement Program page.

“That’s one of the ways we’re going about getting this information,” Trotman said. “We’ve established a standard operating procedure for our public works employees to look any time they work on a meter. We’re also engaging with contractors to do soft digs, which will begin later this summer.”

The Town is required to submit its inventory to regulators this fall, and identify at least 10% of unknown service lines each following year.

“It’s important to specify we don’t anticipate finding lead, but we do expect to find old galvanized pipes,” Trotman said.

The Town will need to identify those materials before eventually replacing lines that do not meet the regulated standards, she added.

Public participation in the survey allows the Town to offset some of the costs of the inventory process, according to Trotman.

“We don’t know exactly how much this will cost, but we know, on average, a town our size spends about $500,000 to complete an inventory,” she said. “We have a pending application in with the state, but the leg work we’ve completed up to this point, at the staff level, we’ve been told we have likely offset those costs by about $75,000 to $100,000 already.”