June 12, 2017 – Laura, who lives within the Atlanta suburb of Roswell, offered to have her water tested when the North Fulton County Water System contacted her in 2015. She had read the shocking stories about Flint, MI, and was interested by her own water lines.
“I wanted to know personally what the water was like in my area,” says Laura, who asked us not to make use of her full name because she was frightened it could affect the worth of her home. “But they never followed up or sent me anything. It was pretty frustrating because I was rushing to get the bottle and do it.”
“I thought everything was fine,” she says.
Everything was mistaken. Her lead level was high – 25 parts per billion. The US Environmental Protection Agency limit is 15 parts per billion.
But Laura didn’t learn of the result until almost two years later when a reporter called to ask her about it.
Federal law requires water utilities to notify homeowners inside 30 days of receiving test results.
David Clark, director of Fulton County's public works department, confirmed that the outcomes weren’t communicated to those tested. “That was an oversight on our part and we have taken steps to correct that,” he said.
In 2015, water corporations in Sebring, Ohio, waited three months longer than the law allowed before informing customers that their water had high lead levels. The Ohio Attorney General filed three criminal charges against the top of the Sebring water plant. Two state employees were fired.
In Georgia, the state appears to have taken no motion against North Fulton County's water utility, despite the fact that the system has received repeated written warnings since 2004 for failing to offer timely information to consumers in regards to the quality of their water. State authorities didn’t reply to our request for comment on the situation.
“Actually, I’m worried,” says Laura.
“Lead is not something to be taken lightly. We are still figuring out what effects it has on people,” she says. “It's not a fair test if you don't tell anyone the results.”
According to the Georgia Department of Environmental Protection, Laura's address is one in all 57 residential addresses within the state of Georgia whose water had high lead levels in 2015.
This may not sound like much, but medium and huge public water systems test only a small portion of all of the households they serve – typically between 30 and 50 households per sampling period.
Residents who’ve their tap water tested for lead must all the time learn of the outcomes, no matter whether the test shows high lead levels or not.
Water systems are required to alert all of their customers to steer problems if greater than 10% of homes tested exceed the EPA's “action level.” It's called the motion level because water utilities are required to take motion to treat water and notify the general public when that level is exceeded. In these cases, the law gives water systems 60 days to notify the general public.
Federal regulators are working to enhance retention notices.
In December, Congress passed amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act that can speed up notification to homeowners when tests show high lead levels. The EPA proposes that notification of a person household with high lead levels needs to be made inside 24 hours of receiving test results. The latest amendments also give the EPA the flexibility to intervene if the state and water system fail to notify consumers in a timely manner.
Laura, for her part, is attempting to have her water retested to verify the high result and needs to learn more about what effect the lead in her drinking water might need on her health.
“I really hope North Fulton County faces consequences at the state and federal level for the decision” to not release the test results, she says.