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Home My WebLink About0481.0921 . -, -, '- / :----,-,~----',,'''" october 26, 1992 THE HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL Palo Alto, California 'FA Llap AND COPPZ~ RULI aND PAUQ ALTO I ' TBeT RESPLTS Members ot the Council: This is an intorma~ional staff report which provides an update on the EPA's Lead and copper Rule, the results of Palo Alto's first round of testinq for lead and copper and required public notification~ IPA LPP AIm COPPBR RULE III BRIEF The Sare Drinking Water Act {SDWA), which was enacted by Congress in 1974. qave the u~s. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA} the federal authority to establish drinking water-standards. In 1975, the EPA established a primary drinking water standard for lead of 0.050 milliqrams per liter (mq/l) and a secondary drinkin9 water standard for copper of 1.0 ~9/1. A primary drinking water standa~d is established to protect health and, if e~ceeded, requires public notification. A secondary drinking water standard is established for aesthetic reasons and does not require pUblic notificatio~ if exceeded. In 1986 Congress ~ade significa~t amendments to the SDWA and established a list of 33 contaminants fo~ which EPA was to develop drinkipg water standards~ Lead and copper were among those contaminants. EPA respond~d in 1988 by proposing a rule that included primary drinking water standards for both lead and copper, and requirements such as corrosion-control treatment for water systems. After receiving nationwide comments on the proposed rule and after developing a number of drafts, EPA announced the Lead and copper Rule on June 7, 1991. The basic elements of the Lead and Ccpper Rule are as follows: 1. All large water systems are required to test for lead and copper a~ various points in the distrib~tior. system and at points of entry into the distribution system. CXlt: &81: 92 • / , " -. . ~. 2. The EPA determined that fQr 'Water utilities the size of PIII.lo Alto 60 ho~es should be tested. They used the following c~iteria in attempting to identify homes most likely to have lead a~d/or copper problems; a.) built aftp-r 1992 1 and b.) utilizing copper piping joined ~ith lead solder. T~st1nq was done on water t~ken from ~ faucet inside the home on a first draw (no water \lsag·e tor at least six hours). 3. All water systems serving more than 50,00e persons are also required to do corrosion control studies which must be complete"_ by July 1, 1994. 04. For all 'Water s}'-stems • ... here roughly 10 percent of samples tested Exceed the action levels of 15 parts per billion (ppb) lead or 1300 parts per billion (ppb) copper, the following actions are required: o Optimal corrosion control. Public notification/education. Leaa service line replacement ,Not applicable to Palo Alto where th~re are no lead service lines.j PStJLTS or PALO ALTO'S FIRST RQPIID or 'fEB_TING In September r tests on samples taken from the distribution system and the points of entry into the distribution system .... ere non detectable for both lead and copper. This indicates that the lead and copper levels in Palo Alto's water supply fall far below the EPA maximum limits~ (The tests used would detect levels as low as 5 ppb.) The first draw samples ta~en from the taps of selected customers were well below the 1300 ppb ac~ion level for copper but some exceeded ~~e 25 ppb action level lor lead. (The samples were at 189 ppb for copper and 29.8 ppb for lead). The homes that exceeded the lead action level were resampled~ A first draw sample was taken l and an additional sample was taken after the water had run for 2 minutes. Although most of the first draw &amples sho~ed various levels of lead, all of the second samples had non-detectable lead levels~ This re6ult suggests the fol1o~ing actions be ta~en by individual hDmeowne~s who are concerned 3bout an increase in water lead levels from plumloing. 1. Testing; Palo Alto staff and The water delivereQ to custo~ers by the City of Water Utility has no problem. Due to the size of funding, the Utilities Department is unable to .. • \ J I test every homeowner's ~ater supply at their taps. For custo~ers who would like to have their ~ater tested, the attached list has the na:,.nes of laboratories .. ho will perform such tests for a fee~ Precautions; It is fairly easy to avoid the extra lead in standing water by just running a faucet for a minute or two before drinking the water. The key times to do this are first thing in the morning, or when arriving home after a day when no one has beer. in the house. {Taking a shower before drinking or cooking ~ater is an easy way to handle the problem, for example.) Such water can be collected for plant ~atering or other non-potable .. ater uses if a homeowner chooses. 3. Brass Fixtures: One option is simply to replace these fixtures with ones made of other material~. Otherwise, following the prec~utions above should handle the problem. ctrlt.Rllf]' B Tnv"TICN Since the customer tap samples exceeded the action level for lead, Palo Alto is require~ by the EPA to provide public notification and education. CUrrently, we are working with the Bay Area water Users Association to determine the most effective way to notify the regional media. However, in the near term, staff will be including information ~ith November utilities bills and placing a notice in the f2.1.Q. Alt.o Weekly. Palo Alto is also a member of the Santa Clara Valley Water District's Joint Corrosion Control project. The purpose of this project is to fulfill the EPA's Lead and Copper Rule's corrosion testing requirements and to evaluate the various corrosion control treatments on the different Santa Clara county source waters in orQer to determine the optimal corrosion control treatment for each source. Kenned.y Jenks Consultants has performed an e)(tensive revie· ... of water quality data from both surface and ground water sources supplying Santa Clara County. Similar water sources ~ere grouped and seven pipe loop station locations ~ere identified. At each pipe loop station l four pipe loops ~ ... ill be installed to ·test three corrosion control treatments and the fourth loop will test only Hetch-Hetchy corrosion levels. The three corrosion control treatmer.ts were selected after completing bench scale tests. All pipe loops are scheduled to be operational by November 1992. Each of the pipe loop stations will be operated for eight months and will be monitored ~eekly. All of Palo Alto's water comes from the San Francisco Water • -.. '.; ...... \ .. , -_.---- '-; , 1 ! • .:; , , oep~rtment~ A pipe loop station will be inst~lled to monitcr thia supply_ The infol~ation gained from this station will help Palo Al to evaluate various alterna't:ives to reduce the corro8ive~ess of our water supply. In response to new Federal requirements, samples of water froQ the City's dist~ibution system as _ell as samples from selected resid-ential taps were tested for copper arId lead content. The homes used for sampling were specifically selected because their lead soldered plumbing was likely to increase water lead levels~ No detectable level~ of either lead or coppeL were found in the City's distribution system. HoW'e~er, roughly ten percent of the r~sidents samples exceeded the Federal -action level for lead"~ As a result, the city will be carl~ing cut a public notification campaign to inform homeowners of the potential problem and suggest ~it1qating action. Th6 city i& participating in Santa Clara Valley Water District's jOint project nov underwey to research and resolve the issue of water corrosiveness causing increased lead and copper levels. Respectfully submitted, k"~J'J. v'",,='-' "--, " RODGER JEN$EN, Manager, Water-Gee-wastewater Field Operations /1 . ' 7' /',/i,<" ,,,.,,~ 4-c lea h,,:'~ ,71, / / Rr.bIARo L. YOUN ,,/ O~ector, Uti ~ttes \ ' ;./ /\J-<~pj/~ CKIt, 481, 92 , , DRINKING WATER lESTING IABORATORIES· Anamctrix, Inc. San!ose (408) 432-8192 Applied Remediation Emirorunental Lab San Jose (408) 453·0501 AquaIab, Inc. Santa Clara (408) 492-1946 Columbia Analyti<;a! SeM= San Jose (4(8) 437-2400 Sequoia Analytical Redwood City (415) 364-9600 • . ..., This list is provided as a service by the Palo Alto Utilities Department and does not represent an endorsement of particular 1alxuatlJl"ia. Any laboratory wishing to be aDded to this list should contact us a! (415) 329-2241 and they will be included at the next printing.