Over the past several years, Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have introduced new rules for municipal water systems regarding lead service lines, the line running from the city’s water main into a home or building.
It includes requirements to identify and replace specific types of services and to notify property owners when their service line falls into one of those categories.
EPA’s lead and copper rule revisions, enacted in 2021, require community water supplies to notify the owners and occupants of a property served by a lead service line, galvanized service line previously connected to a lead service line and unknown lead status service lines.
City of Sturgis water customers who have any of those lines will receive a letter notifying them of their service line material status.
Residents whose service lines are non-lead will not receive a notice.
Notices are required to be sent on an annual basis until the service’s material status.
The requirement to provide these notices impacts all communities in the U.S. Nothing has changed in regard to the safety of the city of Sturgis water system, officials emphasized.
Receipt of a notification does not indicate that there is an issue with water quality, but does provide information if a resident has any concern regarding lead.
Those who receive notices identifying their water service as “unknown” should know that this does not indicate a lead service, only that the city has not been able to identify if the service is lead, GPCL or non-lead.
