GAINESVILLE, Ga. (Oct. 12, 2023) – The Gainesville Department of Water Resources (DWR) has been awarded $200,000 by the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority to assist with creating a federally mandated inventory of lead service lines.
Gainesville is one of 204 communities throughout the state selected as part of the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund with funds made available under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). The BIL investment in the water sector includes $50 billion to strengthen the nation’s drinking water and wastewater systems.
The funds awarded to the City will defray some of the costs associated with the process required to identify lead service lines in the water system, specifically those located on the customer-owned side of the meter. All water systems are required to submit a completed lead service line inventory to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by Oct. 16, 2024. Once completed, the inventory will be publicly accessible on a website map.
The water that leaves the City’s treatment plants is lead-free, and continues to meet or exceed all drinking water quality standards throughout the system as set by federal and state governments. Thanks to an extensive replacement program over more than 25 years, DWR has no known lead pipe in the utility-owned portion of the system. But lead can get into the water as it moves through customer-owned lead pipes, or faucets and fixtures that have lead components.
For this reason, the City has been actively taking steps for years to protect the community from lead in drinking water using measures such as corrosion control. Water quality testing in locations across the system has consistently shown these measures are working.
For more information about lead and the steps that can be taken in the home to further reduce lead exposure, review the latest DWR Water Quality Report available here.