The lead service line notifications to many households in Mount Vernon in early June were sent in error.
Council member Sherene Hansen Player brought up the topic at the June 15 council meeting, and city administrator Chris Nosbisch was just as shocked with the letter he received Saturday, June 13 indicating a confirmed lead service line.
Nosbisch explained that when WHKS did inspections of service lines in Mount Vernon during the water radio meter line installations, they marked several hundred homes as an unidentified service line, as in they could not verify what materials the service line were.
“Somehow in the Excel sheet created by WHKS when it was sent to V and K to send out letters, those items marked as unknown service lines somehow became marked as confirmed lead service lines,” Nosbisch said. “There is no location where we have tested to confirm that lead has existed on these pipes.”
Nosbisch said a follow-up letter will be going out to property owners from V and K that will correct the original notifications.
Nosbisch said the city is required to send out the letters about service lines every year, as it is a new EPA requirement.
“Unless you have your water tested and it comes back lead free, you can’t get removed from this annual letter,” Nosbisch said.
The letters get sent to 600 residents in Mount Vernon whose homes were constructed prior to 1977.
“We can not confirm there is lead present in the service lines,” Nosbisch said. “We get to scare roughly 600 people on an annual basis.”
Player said that people should not take the first notice seriously, but pay attention to the second letter, which Nosbisch agreed with and said there’s a lot of good information in that letter.
“I will say this, if have a large family and cycle a lot of water, you will come back with very minimal lead tests,” Nosbisch said. “We know that it could be lead solder that gets picked up minimally as well.”
Mount Vernon residents with lead service line/unknown service line notices can get free water testing from University of Iowa program
Mount Vernon residents who recently received notice that their home may be connected to a lead service line or have an unknown service line can request a free water test through the University of Iowa’s Get the Lead Out (GTLO) program.
There is no safe level of lead exposure for children. A lead service line is the pipe connecting a home to the public water main. If your service line or household plumbing contains lead, they can introduce lead into household tap water even when the water leaving the treatment plant is safe — which is exactly why water utilities are required to notify residents when a lead service line is known or suspected.
Since the notices went out, GTLO has already heard from several Mount Vernon households interested in testing their water, including residents who specifically mentioned their notice.
If you received a lead service line notice, you very likely qualify for a free GTLO test kit. Request one at gettheleadout.uiowa.edu/apply, or email [email protected]. Questions about your specific notice can also be directed to the City of Mount Vernon.
Testing is simple. GTLO will mail you a kit with step-by-step instructions; you collect a few water samples from your kitchen or bathroom tap and mail the samples back in a prepaid package. GTLO then sends you results with a plain-language explanation of what they mean and what to do next.
While you wait for your results, running your tap for a minute or two before drinking, or using a certified lead filter, can help reduce exposure in the meantime. Bottled water is also a safe option.
“The best way to know if your water contains lead is to test it. And now is the perfect time to do so, as warmer water in the summer means it is more likely to dissolve lead from pipes,” said Drew Latta, an environmental engineer with the University of Iowa’s Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination who leads the Get the Lead Out program.
About Get the Lead Out
Get the Lead Out is a statewide program from the University of Iowa that provides free drinking water testing to help Iowans understand whether their water contains lead. The program was created in 2019 after research found that despite federal monitoring requirements, only about 0.5% of Iowa households connected to public water systems were being sampled for lead each year. GTLO works to close that gap and give Iowa families clear information to help protect their health.