(THREE RIVERS) – The City of Three Rivers has a continued lead action level exceedance for its drinking water system.

Amy Roth, the Three Rivers Public Services Director says the City announced their first lead action level exceedance August 3, 2023. The designation means that locations within the City’s drinking water system have lead test results over 15 parts per billion, which is the EPA drinking water Action Level.

Test collected between July and December 2023 also had results above the 15 ppb.

Roth says the City continued sampling know lead service lines in their second round of collecting first and fifth liter sample from 45 sampling locations. Five homes had results over the 15 parts per billion.

The Action Level is a measure of corrosion control effectiveness, it is not a health-based standard. The goal for lead in drinking water is 0 ppb, because there is no safe level of lead in the blood.

Roth says the Action Level Exceedance means that more than 10% of the homes tested have results of 15 ppb. The exceedance triggers additional actions including educational outreach to customers, ongoing sampling every six months, assessing the corrosivity of the water, and service line replacement.

Lead can enter drinking water when in contact with pipes, solder, home/building interior plumbing, fittings and fixtures that contain lead. Homes with lead service lines have an increased risk of having high lead levels in drinking water. The more time water has been sitting in your home’s pipes, the more lead it may contain.

Because of those factors, Roth says if water has not been used for several hours, run the water before using it for drinking or cooking. If you do not have a lead service line, you should led the water run for 30 seconds to two minutes, or until it becomes cold or reaches a steady temperature. If you do have a lead service line, run the water for at least five minutes to flush water from your home or building’s pluming and the lead service line.

In addition to letting the water run, you can also use a filter to reduce lead. You can get a filter at the City of Three Rivers Department of Public Services building, Three Rivers City Hall or the Three Rivers office of the Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency.