After an audit of all culinary water service lines within Brigham City limits, the Brigham City Water Division has determined that there are no Lead Service Lines or Galvanized Requiring Replacement Lines or lead status unknown service lines. In other words, we have identified the material of all service lines, and none of them contain lead or will need to be replaced under the EPA’s current Lead and Copper Rule Revisions.
To make this determination, Brigham City Water Division followed an audit and recording method that leveraged our Geographic Information System (GIS). The GIS is essentially a digital map of the system and is capable of housing notes and other data tied to specific locations or components. GIS data for the water system has been maintained and updated by Water Division staff for many years.
The culinary water system comprises service lines owned and maintained by Brigham City, as well as lines owned and maintained by customers. During this audit, City staff was tasked with identifying the material of all service lines installed prior to 1991, regardless of ownership. Services lines installed after 1990 (at which point both federal and Utah state law prohibited the use of lead lines), were recorded as “post 1990.”
For city-owned lines, we reviewed billing records, water distribution system plans and as-builts, and associated records. We updated the GIS to include any information that had previously been missing. Following this initial audit, we conducted on-site meter pit inspections (including visual, magnet, and scratch testing) for those portions of the city-owned system that remained unknown.
For customer-owned service lines, including lines between the city-owned meter and residences and businesses, we implemented a public outreach program utilizing both digital media (social media and city website) and physical media (flyers in utility mailers, newspaper announcements) to educate the public and solicit self-reporting.
The reporting tool asked participants to provide their address and then provided images of various service line types to help them identify their own service line type from within their home. If they were unable to identify the line type or if they were unsure, they had the option to upload a photo, which was then reviewed by staff to make a determination. Customers also had the option to request a site visit from an inspector to identify the material.
Staff then canvassed the city to personally contact residents and business owners who had not self-reported. They spoke with customers and conducted on-site inspections when possible. They left door hangers with self-reporting instructions when they were unable to speak to customers directly. The city was canvassed three times.
Predictive Modeling was also used to identify pipe types where various other sources (public outreach, records reviews) had failed to make a determination. Development and property records, associated water transmission main pipe type and installation data, and other sources were used.
Finally, staff carried out on-site shut off valve and meter pit inspections (including visual, scratch and magnet testing) for lines that were still unknown. All results have been recorded in our GIS.
A pdf version of this statement is available at https://5il.co/33dj9.