As required by MassDEP and US EPA, customers will receive a notice from the Water Department if their water service contains unknown materials which may contain lead. Approximately 70% of our customers will receive the notice. Historically, Topsfield has only allowed copper or plastic pipe for service line construction. Recent changes to lead and copper regulations required the Water Department to inventory all service lines and document what materials were used for each service.
If we were unable to point to a plan, service card, GPS records or use institutional knowledge to determine what materials were used in a particular service or portion of the service then it is listed as "uknown material, may contain lead" for inventory purposes. Topsfield does not have any known lead service lines nor have we ever found a lead service line in the system. Historically, Topsfield has only used copper for service lines on Town property (water main to curb stop) and until the early 1970s required copper on private property as well. Plastic lines were allowed on private property starting in the 1970s.
However, as the water system was built and expanded, connections were made to existing pipes on private property. For instance, a home may have had a well in the front yard and the new water service line was connected to the existing well line rather than running ti all the way into the home. There are also many homes that were served by a private water system. Eventually the private system failed and new Town owned mains and services were installed and the existing services on private property were connected to the Town's system. We are less confident of which materials used in circumstances because we have no records of what was installed on private property.
Many of our records show where pipes are located but do not specifiy what material was used. This is primarily due to the initial requirements that everything was copper so there was no point on writing down the material.
Identifying all of the unknown materials is the next step. The notification mailed to customers contains instructions on how to identify lead pipes and notify us of the results using a MassDEP web application or they can schedule an appointment for our staff to inspect the service.
