Anchorage water utility asks thousands of residents to check pipes for possible lead

Anchorage utility officials are asking thousands of residents to check pipes connecting them to the city’s water supply for possible lead fittings.

Sandy Baker, a spokeswoman for the Anchorage Water & Wastewater Utility, said Wednesday that postcards have recently been sent to about 20,000 local customers asking them to complete the pipe survey. Only about 1,000 have done it so far.

The survey is required under revisions to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Lead and Copper Rule, in response to the 2014 discovery of lead contamination in Flint, Michigan’s water supply. According to the EPA, lead consumption can lead to decreased IQ and attention span among children, as well as increased risks of heart disease and high blood pressure among adults.

The utility has historical data about pipe fittings for many Anchorage customers, shown in a map posted on its survey website. But AWWU’s information on water intakes for about 16,000 homes and multi-unit properties is incomplete, according to Baker.

“We’ve asked those customers to please just check and see: Is it copper? Is it galvanized? Is it plastic, or is it possibly lead?” Baker said. “We don’t anticipate it being lead but we just have to know, because if we don’t have a record of it we have no way to report back to EPA.”

Baker said finding and testing an intake pipe with a magnet or a coin can take as little as five minutes. A magnet will stick to galvanized pipes but not lead, and a coin scratch on a lead pipe will reveal shiny silver metal.

The most important part, she said, is learning where your home’s water intake is, since some are above ground while others are in basements or crawl spaces.

“It’s great for everybody to know where the water comes into your home, because that’s where your home shut-off valve is,” she said. “So if you happen to have a problem, you need to know where that’s at anyway – so this is a good exercise in learning that information about your home.”

Although the Lead and Copper Rule took effect in Alaska in 1991, Baker said most local construction occurred after lead pipes were largely phased out in the 1940s – a key difference from Flint.

“They quit making lead pipes decades and decades and decades ago, before Anchorage was really taking off and building and going,” Baker said. “So that’s a benefit for us because AWWU has never used lead, and we don’t have any in our system.”

Because water intakes are private property, Baker said homeowners will be liable for any costs in replacing lead pipes discovered during the survey. They’ll have 10 years to remove the lead.

She said there’s no strict deadline for completing the survey, but she’s hoping residents do so as soon as possible.

“We will have to keep asking until we get all the information,” she said.

Baker said anyone with questions about the survey, or who might need help checking their water intakes, can call AWWU at 907-311-1300 or email utility staff at info@lcr.awwu.biz.