PHOENIX — The Environmental Protection Agency is making every city across the country do a survey of their water lines, looking for lead pipes or galvanized steel pipes.
It’s taken three years, but cities across the country – including here in Arizona – checked the records of every water line and water pipe.
For one good reason – lead.
The same kind of lead that caused health problems in Flint, Michigan, all the way back in 2014.
In 2021, the EPA told cities nationwide to check for their own lead pipes. Any notices to homeowners needed to be sent out by Friday.
Lead pipes have been used predominantly for a very long time across the U.S. and the world.
But the City of Phoenix water department says no one’s used lead in the West in decades.
People will start getting letters like these for two reasons.
One, if the city just couldn’t figure out what your water line’s made out of. Two, if your line is made of galvanized steel.
“As the water flows through the pipes right, it could absorb lead into the water that could then get stuck in that the corroded material to galvanize pipes," Jim Swanson, the city of Phoenix Water Assistant Director said.
Which basically coats the pipe in lead, if there is any.
Swanson said you could get a letter saying they don’t know what your pipe’s made of.
“We'll investigate that so we might come onto your property, look at your hose bib, dig a couple of holes near the water meter to determine what the pipeline is made of," Swanson said.
But according to the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, almost everyone in the state is in the clear.
They’ve only found five examples of lead pipes and that was at what they described as a federal facility in Yuma.
Other cities like Tempe, Glendale and El Mirage all tell 12news they’re sending notices like these.
But they said citizens shouldn't be scared: the water’s testing is just fine, even in the pipes they can’t identify yet.