By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
After months of going door-to-door to check for water lines made of lead, Bowling Green officials have determined that none of the 7,200 service lines in the city are lead.
“We’re in a good position,” city Utilities Director Brian O’Connell announced Monday at the Board of Public Utilities meeting. “We have no lead. We have no unknowns.”
Like all communities in Ohio, Bowling Green was under orders to make sure city water isn’t flowing through lead lines on the way to customers’ faucets. As proven by the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, the health risks of lead in water can be significant and long-lasting, especially to young children.
In December of 2021, the U.S. EPA began requiring community public water systems to submit lead service line inventories to the state by Oct. 16, 2024.
In preparation to meet these requirements, public water systems took the opportunity to document distribution system materials during routine maintenance on both the public and private side of the meters.
In Bowling Green, water distribution and GIS staff have been working over the past few years to ensure the water service line material inventory map is continually being updated.
While no lead lines were found in the city, 69 water service lines on residential properties were identified as “galvanized requiring replacement.” This category is reserved for galvanized lines on private property where it can’t be proven that the city portion of the line was never lead, O’Connell explained.
The concern is that deposits from previous lead lines could have leached into the galvanized lines. The city regularly tests for lead at those homes, O’Connell said.
Since 1986, lead has been banned for use in water lines, and in the 1990s any known lead service lines in Bowling Green were replaced.
The city had been working on its water service line inventories for a couple years now. Until recently, the city just needed to determine if any service lines are lead or some other material.
But now, it’s not enough to know if the private lines that serve customers’ homes or businesses are lead-free. The Ohio EPA asked for another step of identifying exactly what material the lines are made of – galvanized PVC, plastic, copper or lead.
Though the newer service water lines are identified in detail, some of the “old-timers” hinted at the location of lines with descriptions like “east of the oak tree,” O’Connell said.
O’Connell explained the city is responsible for the portion of the waterline that extends to the curb stop, but the portion of the line going into a residence is the homeowner’s responsibility.
There is no lead present in the drinking water as it leaves the city’s water treatment plant, O’Connell said. The city treats the water to reduce the potential for lead to contaminate the drinking water. This is achieved through a corrosion control treatment process and by adding orthophosphate to the water as a corrosion inhibitor.
“Hopefully that gives customers peace of mind about what is being delivered to them,” O’Connell said.
Bowling Green is fortunate to not have lead issues, he said. Some communities working to identify lead water lines have found thousands, which will cost millions of dollars to remove and replace, O’Connell said.
