Rhode Island residents can check if the water service lines to their homes contain lead on a new online dashboard that launched Monday.
The Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) manages the Lead Service Line Public Transparency Dashboard, which includes a searchable map to look up an address anywhere in the state and see if the service lines that carry water to the house contain the toxic mineral.
Service lines consist of a public portion, owned by water utility companies, and a private portion owned by the homeowner. If any part of the service line contains lead, the mineral can corrode from the pipes over time and then leach into the drinking water. The new dashboard shows both public and private sides of a home’s connection and indicates if either is made of lead.
Lead is especially harmful to young children and can affect cognitive development but is toxic at any age. It can lead to long-term health problems if ingested regularly. Human skin does not absorb leaded water, so it’s safe to use for showers or baths.
“Just having a lead service line does not mean that there is lead in your drinking water,” said Dr. Jerry Larkin, the health department’s director, in a statement Monday. “Public water systems take many steps to keep drinking water safe from lead, including treatment that reduces corrosion and routine testing, with a focus on homes with lead service lines.”
Many factors affect how much lead can leach into drinking water, including water chemistry and temperature, how much lead water touches while traveling through pipes and the condition of the pipes. Boiling water does not eliminate lead. Letting cold tap water run can remove some of the lead that may have been collected in the service lines.
But Larkin also stated that “the replacement of all lead service lines in Rhode Island is an important additional step in making Rhode Island’s drinking water as healthy and safe as possible” — a mission also endorsed by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which last year announced a goal to replace all lead service lines nationwide, giving water systems until 2027 to draft replacement plans. EPA will then give water carriers a 10-year window to swap out the lines for newer materials, like copper or plastic.
Public water systems have been notifying customers with lead service lines about free water pitchers with lead filtration and information for homeowners about the replacement process if they need to get new lines.
“Replacing all lead service lines in Rhode Island is a complex process that will take several years,” the health department said in a news release, noting federal grants from the EPA are helping to subsidize municipal replacements.
The Rhode Island Lead Poisoning Prevention Act mandates that, if project funds exist, then private side service lines can be replaced for free for customers. The state has approximately $143 million in federal funding designated specifically for service line inventory and replacement work for fiscal years 2023 through 2027, according to the health department. The health department recommends contacting your local water authority for more information on replacement.
The service line dashboard is the second lead transparency initiative RIDOH released in the past week. Last Wednesday, the health department launched its online registry of lead certifications and data for rental units.
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
