Ceres informs residents of missed 2024 deadline for drinking water line inventory
The city of Ceres was required to submit an inventory of its water lines in 2024. Though it is now in compliance, it is asking residents for their help in completing the picture for the lines that lead to customers’ taps.
Notices were sent to residents, informing them the city missed an Oct. 16, 2024, deadline set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to inventory its water lines.
Ceres stated that it submitted an initial drinking line inventory to the Department of Drinking Water in April that included the city- owned lines but not all of the customer service lines. It is now considered in compliance but was required by the state to send notices about the delay.
“The city missed that deadline mostly because of staff turnover and staff shortages,” said Ceres Interim City Manager Steve Williams.
Ceres was required to submit the initial inventory as part of a 2021 update to the Lead and Copper Rule that required water systems to log all water lines, note their materials and submit them to the state’s Water Resources Control Board by October 2024.
There will be a second step requiring the city to inventory the service lines that extend from the city lines to each individual customer’s home, though the maintenance of those lines is not the responsibility of the city.
Residents received the notice that the lines that connect to their homes are considered of an “unknown material” and may contain lead or galvanized piping that could contribute to water quality issues. However, a separate notice will be sent to residents whose service lines are not logged by the city according to Williams.
According to the notice, residents can help identify their water lines by going to an EPA website for instructions on how to check for lead in their pipes. Additionally, the notice included a link to the Lead Service Replacement Collaborative for help identify service line materials.
Williams reiterated that this particular notice does not imply that there are issues with the drinking water, but if they received a separate notice regarding the drinking water such as a boil notice, they should continue to comply with those notices.
“This is no indication of the current status of the water system, it’s just the fact that we missed the deadline,” Williams said.
Ceres has done testing for lead within its water system and has not found lines that exceed the action level for lead.
If residents plan to change the material of their pipes they should contact the City of Ceres because the city may need to change the system portion of the line.
