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Cape Fear Public Utility Authority has published its Water Service Line Materials Inventory, in compliance with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Revised and Improved Lead and Copper Rule (LCR).

The LCR is the primary regulation for lead and copper in drinking water in the United States. Recent changes require U.S. water utilities to inventory all water service lines across their system to determine whether those lines include lead materials.

A water service line is the pipe that connects a private property to the public water supply. Part of the line is owned by the property owner, and part of it is owned by the utility. Both the public and private sides of service lines are included in the inventory.

Over the past four years, CFPUA staff has worked with vendors to inventory the more than 75,000 service lines across the drinking water system, confirming that there are zero lead service lines. The inventory process included hand-digging to physically examine lines and the use of machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence that uses statistical algorithms to develop reliable predictions based on available data, helping to fill information gaps and prioritize areas for further investigation.

The inventory did locate 592 galvanized water service lines in older parts of the service area. While galvanized lines are not made of lead, these lines have a higher likelihood of having a lead fitting called a “gooseneck.”

CFPUA is replacing all of these lines at no cost to the customer.

Customers can search their address at this link to review the material of their property’s water service line, or visit www.CFPUA.org/FindMyLine.

In anticipation of the EPA’s Revised LCR, CFPUA staff began work on its inventory in 2020. This proactive approach helped CFPUA secure a total of $9.16 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funding, administered by the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, to replace galvanized service lines. During President Biden’s visit to Wilmington in May to announce BIL funding for service line replacements, EPA and State environmental leaders also visited CFPUA to observe a demonstration of a galvanized service line replacement.

CFPUA has begun contacting property owners who have galvanized service lines on the public side about the upcoming replacement of these lines.

CFPUA effectively treats all of the drinking water we provide to customers for lead. To protect customers from lead found in older plumbing materials and fixtures, CFPUA also has a system-wide corrosion control program. Orthophosphate, which is approved as an additive by the Food and Drug Administration, is added to CFPUA’s drinking water before it is distributed to customers. Orthophosphate forms a coating on pipes to help keep lead from leaching out of plumbing fixtures and into your water.

Customers who have questions about their property’s water service line may contact CFPUA at www.CFPUA.org/ServiceLines.