Lead and Copper Rule Revisions

Lead and Copper Rule Revisions Service Line Inventory Guidance

On August 4, 2022, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released Guidance for Developing and Maintaining a Service Line Inventory to support water systems with their efforts to develop inventories and to provide states with needed information for oversight and reporting to EPA. The guidance provides essential information to help water systems comply with the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions requirement to prepare and maintain an inventory of service line materials by October 16, 2024. Specifically, EPA’s Lead Service Line Inventory guidance:

  • Provides best practices for inventory development and communicating information to the public.
  • Includes a template for water systems, states, and Tribes to use or adapt to create their own inventory.
  • Contains case studies on developing, reviewing, and communicating about inventories.
  • Highlights the importance of prioritizing inventory development in disadvantaged communities and where children live and play.

EPA is harmonizing regulatory requirements with unprecedented funding through President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to make rapid progress on removing harmful lead from America’s drinking water.   

Town of Fort Mill Testing

On Dec. 16, 2021, the EPA announced new regulations in eliminating Lead in Drinking Water. Through several revisions, the EPA has laid groundwork for Public Water Systems (PWS) to begin collecting an inventory on each water systems’ covered area. Under these regulations, the Town of Fort Mill is required to inventory the public service water line and main, as well as the private side (which is the area between the meter and a house) in areas that were built before the year 1988. In 1988, a lead ban was issued in household plumbing.  

In areas where the Town needs to sample, we will be required to view and document the service line type in the ground.  This will require Town crews to dig an area in some yards around the meter box on both sides of the box to determine the material of the water line. Affected homeowners will be notified a week in advance of the work. In an effort to limit the number of homes that need to be tested, the EPA and S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) will allow Town crews to use an average of homes in neighborhoods that were built by the same developer at a specific time.  As part of this process, you may notice Fort Mill employees around the area or in your yard collecting this information.  

During this process, the Town of Fort Mill Utilities Department will be working to limit the amount of area dug up on affected properties. In our efforts to control this, we are accepting help from the public. If an affected homeowner would like to help assist the Town in developing an inventory of these water lines, US EPA has allowed us to use photos from homeowners to verify the service material type on the private side of the property. Homeowners can do this by conducting a “Scratch Test” or “Magnet Test” if it looks like it may be lead or metal. If you would like to complete one of these tests on your own, please submit a photo of the area tested with an address and information on where the photo was taken to Utilities Superintendent Matt Kennedy at mkennedy@fortmillsc.gov. 

For more information on the Lead and Copper Rule Revision (LCRR) Regulations, you can visit the Lead and Copper link on www.epa.gov’s website or contact the Town of Fort Mill Utilities Department at (803) 547-7158. You can also read our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document here.