EPA Lead Water Service Inventor

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) website states that the Lead and Copper Rule, enacted in 1991, is the National Primary Drinking Water Regulation and requires public water systems to reduce levels of lead and copper in drinking water. In January 2021, the EPA developed the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions for water systems to comply with the requirements with a deadline of October 16, 2024.

The EPA mandated that all water utilities were required to verify their service line materials according to the date that went into effect for the lead ban, which was March 18, 1988. As of May 7, 2024, Murfreesboro Water Resources Department (MWRD) verified all water service lines within our network are free of lead in compliance with the EPA and the State of Tennessee (TDEC) mandate.

To determine which addresses and service lines had the possibility of being lead, MWRD GIS and O&M staff populated "Public Water Service Lines" using diameter & material from historic sources such as street cards, tap records and water replacement project files and other system records.

Our O&M Manager Donald Hughes, certified that 1" or 2" Copper pipe was used post July 1986, 1" or 2" Pex pipe only was used post 2019 or DIP in these cases if the service line was larger than 2". For existing addresses prior to July 1986, GIS used project file records of Water Main and Water Service line replacements to determine the pipe materials.

O&M crews visited ALL public & private water service lines installed prior to July 1986 with metal detection/discernment equipment to verify that the available records were indeed correct. The equipment notes the differences between copper, galvanized, and lead pipe. None of the service lines examined fell into the category of lead or unknown materials.

As stated above, MWRD's report was completed May 7, 2024, and comprised 27,931 records. This report was filed with TDEC and was accepted in advance of the due date of October 16, 2024.