Valparaiso City Services wants to know what your water service lines are made of.
Deputy City Services Director Matt Zurbriggen says the city will complete a federally-mandated inventory between now and October. "The water main itself is the larger line in the street that conveys most of the water," Zurbriggen explained to the city council Monday. "The service line that we're working on inventorying is the line from that main to the home."
None of the city's water mains are believed to be lead, but about 500 service lines are, at least on the city's portion. Zurbriggen said the inventory requires looking at the portion of the lines on private property, heading into homes.
"We have limited knowledge because historically, it's been privately owned," Zurbriggen said. "The customer owns that, so we had no use in that information, but because of these requirements, we are taking that on, and we are trying to find that information out now."
Starting next month, residents will be asked to inspect their service lines and submit the information online — or allow an authorized door knocker to enter their home and do it for them. To raise awareness, the city got $45,000 in grant funding to set up a website and send postcards to water customers. City officials will also go door-to-door, starting with older homes more likely to have lead service lines.
Zurbriggen said he also anticipates grant opportunities to replace lead service lines, but he expects more details in the coming months. "The better our inventory is, the better funding opportunities we have for replacement in the future," he added.
He stressed that Valparaiso's water is safe to drink, based on state and federal standards.
