Nobel Systems has issued a new GeoViewer module to help water utilities meet the newly revised Lead and Copper Line reporting requirements from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The EPA revised the rules to meet President Biden’s goal to remove dangerous lead contamination in public drinking water via funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
In August, the EPA released Guidance for Developing and Maintaining a Service Line Inventory to assist water systems in developing inventories and providing states with the information they need to report to the agency.
The Lead and Copper Rule Revisions require water systems to maintain an inventory of service line materials by October 16, 2024. Utilities must also make all required information publicly available and notify customers of pipelines that contain lead within 30 days of reporting to the EPA.
Nobel Systems’ Lead and Copper Line reporting tool enable water utilities to map all lead and copper lines and quickly report it to the EPA.
How the Lead and Copper Line Reporting Module Works
A utility must have a geographic systems information map of all its pipelines. Existing Nobel clients only need to have the module activated on their GeoViewer system. The module highlights all services and meters on a utility’s assets map.
Utility field workers visit a residential or commercial property to determine whether the pipelines are copper, lead, or another material at the site. Then they use the GeoViewer Lead and Copper Reporting module to track and report the pipeline material, whether it’s properly installed, and whether it is a city- or customer-owned property.
Once staff saves the data, they can move to the next property. After identifying the material and condition of all assets, they can generate a report to download and send to the EPA.
The reporting module is highly customizable; if a utility prefers to add more data, it can request it. For example, Valley County asked more data for their module, such as service ID, address, and specific date of installation of service lines.
Following is a video that shows how the Lead and Copper line reporting tool works.