Citizens will see City of Roswell Water Maintenance and Transmission crews out and about locating waterlines that contain lead so they can be replaced with non-lead lines. This project is being done to meet a mandate from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requiring the elimination of waterlines that contain lead.
Roswell’s drinking water is lead-free after being treated as it is pumped from the ground and sent into the transmission system of waterlines to bring it to homes and businesses. However, the water can absorb small amounts of lead on its way to customers if it passes through pipes containing lead. While the majority of Roswell’s water transmission system
is made up of lead-free pipes, some of the oldest pipes in the system do contain lead and will be removed. These types of pipes are potentially found between the water main and a
customer’s water meter and between the meter and the house or business. Crews will begin this project in the older parts of the city.
In order to locate waterlines containing lead, crews will use special equipment that detects the lead-containing pipes without having to dig and expose them initially. Workers will be accessing water meters – usually found in the front of residential properties – to conduct this inventory of waterlines and locate the lead ones, which will be removed and replaced as a second phase of the project after the inventory is complete. City workers will be in uniform and traveling in city-marked vehicles. They will also have ID badges on them.
Anyone with questions about this project can call the Water Maintenance and Transmission office at 575-624-6731.