Some customers will receive a note
on their November 2025 water bill regarding a service line notice. Click here
to go directly to the service line notice. Here is a quick summary of why some customers are receiving a
service line notice:
Water Service Line Inventory
Introduction
The presence of lead in drinking water
poses health risks to the public. Lead is found naturally in lake water and in
the environment. It is not in the drinking water that comes from our city wells
and water towers. A major way that lead
can enter drinking water is through pipes or plumbing that contain this
material, including the service lines that connect a customer’s home to the
local water distribution system.
In a national effort to minimize the
presence of lead in our drinking water, the Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality (TCEQ) has required Texas public water systems to develop inventories
of all their service lines. This inventory includes the location and material
classification of every service line connected to the water distribution
system. The goal of the service line inventory is to aid in identifying any
possible sources of lead in customers’ drinking water and removing those
sources, minimizing the risk of lead exposure. The City of Big Sandy completed
its most recent service line inventory on October 28, 2025. In the development
of this inventory, the city recorded 851 service lines connected to its water
distribution system.
Customers can also help in identifying
their service lines through the Customer
Self-Identification Survey. The survey is available at City Hall, can be
downloaded here
or can be completed online.
The public can access Big Sandy’s service line inventory on the city’s website
by clicking here.
Information on the
Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR)
The Safe Drinking Water Act is a
federal law passed in 1974 that works to protect the quality of drinking water
in the United States. Under this act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) has the authority to set enforceable regulations regarding drinking water
contaminants, called the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWRs).
The Lead and Copper Rule (LCR), issued in 1991, is one of these regulations,
with the goal of minimizing the presence of lead and copper in drinking water.
On December 16, 2021, the EPA
announced final revisions to the NPDWRs for lead and copper, called the Lead
and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR). These revisions strengthen the regulations
that public water systems must follow to improve public health. On October 8,
2024, the EPA announced the final Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI),
which strengthens key elements of the Lead and Copper Rule. The EPA continues
to update its regulations to address needs that develop over time. State
organizations, such as TCEQ, help facilitate the implementation and enforcement
of these regulations.
Phew! That was a lot of acronyms. To
summarize, these are the regulations that the U.S. government has set in place
to make sure that our drinking water is safe. For more information, you can
visit the EPA’s website at www.epa.gov or TCEQ’s website at
www.tceq.texas.gov.
City of Big Sandy
Action Plan
Beginning on October 16, 2024, three
provisions of the LCRR went into effect. These provisions require public water
systems to develop service line inventories, notify customers with known or
possible lead service lines, and notify all customers in occasions where
dangerous levels of lead are detected anywhere in the system. Below is the City
of Big Sandy’s plan of action for compliance with these requirements.
I. Service Line Inventory:
The City of Big Sandy
has inventoried 851 service lines in its water distribution system. Through
ongoing efforts, the City was able to determine the material classification of
most of these service lines but some are still unknown. The city will continue
to maintain this database over time.
II. Customer
Notices:
All customers with
service lines consisting of lead, galvanized requiring replacement, or unknown
materials must be notified according to the LCRR. The City of Big Sandy
notifies its customers using notes on their water bills and refers them to the
website in order to view the full notice. If you are a Big Sandy water customer
and you received a notice on your water bill, you can access the full customer
notice here.
III. Water Testing:
Our public water
system is required to collect tap samples to measure lead and copper levels in
our system. During a scheduled monitoring event, customer volunteers collect
water samples which are then sent to a State certified laboratory for analysis.
Lead concentrations are measured in parts per billion (ppb). If a sample is
found to have more than 15 ppb, this is considered to be a lead Action Level
Exceedance, or ALE.
In the event of an
ALE, our public water system is required to notify all customers within 24
hours via what is called a Tier 1 Public Notice, as well as notify the State.
Public education materials are also required to be provided to customers within
60 days of the end of the sampling period.
The City of Big Sandy
routinely tests dozens of points throughout the city for various contaminants.
According to the 2024 Water Quality Report, the city meets or exceeds all State
and Federal requirements for drinking water. You can read the 2024 Water
Quality Report here.
IV. Corrosion Control:
As part of the Lead
and Copper Rule, the City of Big Sandy is required to have a corrosion control
plan. Reducing the corrosion of pipes helps minimize the levels of plumbing materials
that dissolve into drinking water. The Big Sandy Public Works Department
performs routine testing on a daily basis and carefully adjusts and monitors
the water’s chemistry before it is distributed. All chemicals that the city
uses to treat its water are NSF/ANSI 60 certified for drinking water treatment.
V. Replacing Lead Service Lines:
While corrosion
control can help minimize the concentrations of plumbing materials in drinking
water, the best way to eliminate lead from drinking water is to remove and
replace lead pipes and plumbing. If a service line is found to be made out of
lead, it needs to be replaced. The replacement of the city-owned portion of the
service line is the city’s responsibility, while the replacement of the
customer-owned portion of the service line is the customer’s responsibility. If
you determine that you have lead pipes or plumbing, please let us know, and we
can help you research options for replacing these lines.
Frequently Asked
Questions
Ø What is a water
service line? A
water service line is the pipe that connects a water main to a customer’s home
or business, providing drinking water to the customer. Most service lines have
a water meter that tracks how much water flows through the line, which is a
measure of how much water a customer uses.
Ø Who is responsible
for maintaining my service line? In the City of Big Sandy, ownership of
each service line is split. The portion of the service line between the water
main up to and including the water meter is owned by the city and is the city’s
responsibility to maintain. The portion of the service line between the water
meter and the house or other facility is owned by the customer and is the
customer’s responsibility.
Ø What are the
different material classifications and what do they mean? There are four
material classifications that a service line can have: lead, galvanized
requiring replacement, non-lead, and lead status unknown. Each classification
is described below:
o Lead: Either the
customer-owned portion of the service line is made out of lead, the city-owned
portion of the service line is made out of lead, or both. These service lines
need to be replaced.
o Galvanized Requiring
Replacement:
The customer-owned portion of the service line is galvanized, and the city-owned
portion is either lead, has previously been lead, or is unknown. Galvanized
pipes have very rough inner surfaces which tend to collect particles, and any
galvanized pipes that have been downstream from lead pipes could contain
remnant lead particles which could dislodge and dissolve back into the water.
In other words, they can easily contaminate the water. Service lines with this
classification need to be replaced.
o Non-lead: Plastic, copper, or
other non-lead materials, including galvanized pipes that have not been
connected to lead pipes, are considered to be non-lead. Service lines with this
classification do not need to be replaced.
o Unknown: Either the
customer-owned portion of the service line is made of an unknown material, the
city-owned portion is unknown, or both. These service lines need to be
identified, as they may or may not contain lead.
Ø
How do I reduce my exposure to lead in
drinking water? There
are a number of methods that you can use if you are concerned about lead in
your drinking water. The methods listed below are steps that you can take to
help reduce lead exposure:
o Check to see what
your service lines are made out of. It is also good to check and see if
the internal plumbing of your home contains any lead. You can check these
yourself, hire a licensed plumber, or check with your landlord.
o If lead is found, replace
any known lead in your service lines or plumbing.
o Use a water filter certified to remove
lead from drinking water. Be sure to regularly maintain your water filter.
o Run cold water to
flush out lead.
If a faucet hasn’t been used in more than six hours, let water run from the
cold tap for 15-20 seconds before drinking or cooking with it. The longer water
sits in the pipe, the more plumbing material it could contain. Flushing tap
water is a simple and inexpensive way to protect your health.
o Use cold water for
cooking and preparing baby formula. Lead dissolves more easily into hot
water than cold water. Avoid drinking, cooking, or preparing beverages with hot
tap water. However, it is still safe to wash dishes and do laundry with hot tap
water. Lead will not soak into your dishware or most clothes.
o Regularly remove and
clean your faucet’s aerator.
o Use alternative
sources of water.
If there are confirmed or suspected lead-containing materials in your pipes,
you may consider using bottled water.
Ø How do I access the
service line inventory? We have made the service line inventory publicly accessible
for your convenience as a PDF document, which you can access here.
This version of the inventory lists the location, service line identifier, and
the material classification of all of the service lines that are connected to
our water system as of October 28, 2025.
Ø Where do I find the
Customer Self-Identification Survey? The City of Big Sandy has released an
ongoing customer
survey for any of its water customers who know what their service lines are
made out of and wish to provide that information to the city. The survey is
available at City Hall, can be downloaded here
or can be completed online.
Customers are NOT required to dig up their service lines in order to complete
the survey. Any information that customers can provide will be helpful, as it
will help reduce the number of unknowns in the inventory. If you want to update
or dispute the classification of your service line, please feel free to talk to
us, and you can also fill out the customer survey when it is released.
Contact Us
If you have any questions, please feel
free to contact us. You can call City Hall at (903) 636 - 4343, or email us at publicworks@bigsandytx.gov.