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The Town of Farmville will meet the federal deadline, but there’s still some work left to do. Back on Aug. 4, 2022, the U.S. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) put out an order. The agency got funding and instruction through the current administration’s infrastructure law to make “rapid progress” on removing lead from America’s drinking water. But to do that, first you need to know how much lead and copper exists in the pipes. And so they set a deadline. By Oct. 16 of this year, all counties, cities and towns have to do a full survey of their respective water systems and submit it to the EPA. 

As that was too much work for town staff to do on their own and still meet the deadline, back in August of this year the Farmville council hired TRC Consulting and Engineering to tackle the first phase of this project, at a cost of $112,500. That includes going through the town’s data, plugging it into the survey, submitting it to the EPA and then answering all questions the EPA may raise. 

The issue is that TRC won’t be able to identify all 3,000 pipes by the deadline. That’s ok. You just mark it down as “unknown”. And that means the town goes on the clock a second time. 

The second deadline for Farmville

Towns, cities and counties have until October of 2027 to identify all of the “unknown” pipes.That’s why this is a phased project. And during the Farmville council’s Wednesday, Oct. 8 meeting, the group learned there are still be quite a few pipes left to identify. 

“It’s going to be probably a very long process,” said Farmville Finance Director Julie Moore. ‘Out of the 3,000 meter connections we have, (there are) 2,000 unknown. It’s going to be a lot of work.” 

There are some ways for this round the staff can work around the issue, so that they’re not having to literally dig up every “unknown” pipe. If, for example, they’re having to identify pipes in a neighborhood where all the houses were built at the same time and by the same builder, they can sample. Dig up one line and use it to identify the lead and copper values in all the rest. Another option is to reach out to homeowners and ask for any paperwork or other information they have, such as when the house was built. 

That’s Moore’s plan. The town staff will send a letter out to homeowners, letting them know what’s needed. 

“When we send the letter out, we plan to also send a survey, like a step by step survey, so that they know exactly what we’re looking for,” Moore said. “And they can take pictures and send it in to us.” 

In exchange, if residents do send in the information the town needs, Farmville will give them $20 off their utility bill. For any residents who decline to help, town staff will leave notes on their door saying they need to schedule a time to come in and figure out if the pipe coming into the house has lead or copper.