Lead Evaluations
Elizabeth City Lead Evaluations
Using Geographic Information System (GIS) layers and other system records data provided by the City, AECOM prepared two initial North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NC DEQ) Lead Service Line Inventories (LSLI) for submittal to the NC DEQ prior to the October 16, 2024 deadline and reflecting the two community water systems operated by the City. The goal of the project was to identify areas likely to have lead or galvanized service lines (considering age, maintenance logs, testing if available, and etc.) and reduce the substantial number of service lines whose dates of installation were unknown. These inventories defined the boundaries in which this sampling (“potholing” of services) should occur during the Phase II portion of the work. Phase II will include the field investigation and development of the City’s LSL Replacement Plan.
In addition, AECOM provided support to the City in preparing a Static Map of the LSLIs with respect to the City’s water customer’s service line materials displayed by parcel. Secondly, AECOM prepared the required customer LSLI notices and handled the bulk mailing of those notices.
In Phase II, using the City’s initial Lead Service Line Inventory database, AECOM will coordinate with the City, specific water system customers, and the AECOM subcontractor who is conducting potholing to expose service lines and identify pipe materials. The goal of Task 2 is to prioritize locations likely to have lead service lines based on age, maintenance logs, testing if available, service area demographics, etc. Service line material verification is necessary at approximately 330 locations based on the total number of service lines existing within the system. Based on a typical rate of customer response, customer notifications / authorizations will be prepared and distributed by mail to a maximum of 1,000 customers residing at locations with the highest probability of having lead service lines.
Customers on the mailing list will be contacted by phone on a minimum of two occasions at least 24 hours apart during normal business hours to obtain approval to conduct potholing. Failure to connect with the customer or customer refusal to approve potholing will be recorded and the sample site coordination process will proceed to other customers on the list. If 330 customer approvals cannot be obtained from the original list of 1,000 customers, then the field work will proceed with the number of authorizations obtained. The sample site coordination process will continue into Task 3, as service line material is successfully identified.
The work involves physical verification of water service line connection materials. Using the initial inventory to define the boundaries in which this sampling (“potholing” of services) will occur as described under Task 2, sampling will occur on the public and private sides (as allowed by the property owner) of water meters at each location. Up to 330 service lines will be sampled for a total of 660 potholes. The process for selecting prioritized locations for sampling outlined in Task 2 will be continued in Task 3 to include 1) ongoing coordination with customers to facilitate access and 2) pre-sampling site visits to assess location accessibility.
For each location where potholing is completed, AECOM will gather information regarding the approximate location of the water service meter and the water service line relative to the main supply line and the residence. This information along with pipe diameter and pipe material will be updated during potholing investigations and provided to the City as a feature class upon project completion. Pipe material classifications are limited to visual observations and standard field identification techniques including scratch and magnet tests.
Through updating the LSLI, sampling and statistical methods, AECOM will work with the City to develop a Lead Service Line Replacement (LSLR) Plan. The LSLR Plan is intended to function as a living document to provide a roadmap for ongoing identification, prioritization, and replacement of lead service lines. This plan will provide a budget and schedule for future LSL inventorying, sampling, and modeling, and will identify early capital projects to replace LSLs. The plan will consider and align LSL replacements with other maintenance and capital efforts, such as replacing broken/leaking lines and replacing LSLs during meter replacements.
A draft and final LSLR Plan (including an updated GIS data layer of the LSLI) will be developed and delivered to the City in electronic format. The City will be provided with two weeks to review the draft deliverable and AECOM will then have two additional weeks to address client comments and deliver the final report.
Similar to Phase 1 of the LDR project, the City’s LDR Plan will be an actionable, “living” document that will be refined and expanded as the City secures resources for further sampling to fully identify LSLs, plan their replacement, and ultimately comply with the LCRR.