Residents can opt out, but have to conduct survey work themselves
The City of Rockmart’s has hired out workers will soon be showing up in front of local residences with shovels and clipboards, ready to determine what kind of pipes are delivering water to homes and businesses alike as part of a wide-ranging national program.
The Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has required that localities across the United States who deliver water to customers have to determine what kind of pipes are still underground in an effort to ensure everyone across the country has access to clean drinking water no matter where they live.
Rockmart’s efforts are set to be undertaken by a contractor hired out for the survey, who will undertake the survey then collect the results to figure out the next steps moving forward.
Per the city, the workers will be going around the city during the coming weeks and months and have to dig a 1 foot square hole on the customer’s side of the water meter to look for copper and lead piping used in previous generations of work.
There is an option to opt-out of contractors coming to homes, but customers will be responsible for conducting the survey themselves.
City Manager Stacey Smith said that customers will need to call the city at 770-684-5454 and speak to a representative with the water department, who will provide further instructions on how individuals can conduct the survey on their own.
Information will be provided to those who want to opt-out after they call into make the request, Smith added.
“This is a required step for the city to take in order for us to ensure that customers have the cleanest and safest water supply coming into their homes and businesses that we can provide,” she said. “We will be providing more information about this program as we receive updates from the state about the inventory and steps the city and customers will need to take going forward.”
As for what happens after the survey is concluded and the EPA and Georgia Environmental Protection Division look at all the results, that is still up in the air.
However the EPA, via information they provide online about the inventory project nationwide, estimate the nation could spend a combined $625 billion that over the next 20 years on updating water supply lines, storage tanks and more remediation steps to correct plumbing in the past thought safe and now known to cause major health problems.
