Beatrice Water Department continuing inventory of lead or copper water lines

BEATRICE – The Beatrice Water Department is making good progress on an inventory of lead and copper pipes in the city……a federal mandate triggered by the water crisis that occurred in Flint, Michigan.

Beatrice Water Superintendent Steve Kelley says the local service line inventory on homes and businesses has received a nearly 50 percent return on a couple of mailings to property owners about the requirement.

The inventory being taken involves about six thousand addresses in the city…which are then loaded into a database. Kelley says currently, there are no concerns with plastic and copper. With copper and corrosive water, there could be a violation of coper-lead rule. "We've seen more violations on the copper rule in Nebraska than we've ever seen on the lead. If we find a lead service line, that would have to be replaced in a certain time frame. You have to inventory all of this, and you have to replace, I think, it is three-percent every year."

To this point, no federal funding is committed to replacement of lines. Kelley said lead water lines haven’t been used in Nebraska since the 1930s. Because the city is ahead of many other communities required to inventory lines, Board of Public Works Manager Tobias Tempelmeyer says some have contacted Beatrice interested in the process used to educate the public about the requirement.

Kelley says the city uses a video on its website to show people how to identify the type of water lines their property has. "That's on our web page. I actually got a call from Oregon. They Googled some videos for the lead-copper rule. They viewed that and called me, and said by far, we have the best one they've seen."

Kelley said so far, about 25 or 30 local property owners have reported the presence of a lead water line…but upon on-site follow-up to verify that, he says not one is actually made of lead.