Lead in your pipes? Onondaga County customers to find out

New York state is ramping up efforts to rid service lines of lead with communities across the state receiving funds to bring clean water to homes, however, the Onondaga County Water Authority (OCWA) says it wants to understand the problem before working to solve it.

“This is designed to let folks know about water service lines," said Onondaga County Water Authority Executive Director Jeff Brown.

More than 74,000 OCWA customers will receive letters telling them if their water service lines contain lead or not.

“There’s three types of letters going out starting on Friday," Brown said.

The letters will tell people whether their lines contain lead, galvanized steel, or an unknown material. OCWA confirmed 400 customers have lead in their water service lines; about 3,500 have galvanized steel that needs replacement; and nearly 70,000 have an unknown material in their service lines.

“Not every galvanized steel pipe is a cause for concern, but if it is immediately downstream of lead, that’s where we get concerned because that galvanized steel can pick up lead," Brown said.

This comes after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) required public water systems across the nation to conduct a complete inventory of its water service lines. In April of last year, the EPA estimated at least 494,000 service lines in New York contained lead.

Officials with OCWA are asking their customers who receive unknown results to test their service lines at home.

“We have been trying diligently to get you to tell us, and to do this very simple process to let us know," Brown said. "If we can’t get it done via this simple process, unfortunately, things are going to have to ramp up.”