Lead in drinking water is primarily from materials and components associated with service lines and home plumbing. Athens-Clarke County has no lead service lines in our transmission or distribution system.
The ACC Public Utilities Department (PUD) cannot control the variety of plumbing materials used in constructing homes, including lead pipes, solder, fixtures, and fittings. Lead can enter (leach) into the water through corrosion caused by contact with the home’s plumbing.
The PUD is committed to providing high-quality drinking water to our customers. In 1991, Athens-Clarke County began using an Ortho-Phosphate blend as a means of corrosion control to significantly reduce the possibility of lead leaching into tap water, even in the oldest of homes.
The PUD collects quarterly metal corrosion coupons, which are pre-weighed and measured metal strips, mounted at selected locations within our distribution system to gauge the corrosion control chemical dosage’s effectiveness. The metal coupons are collected and sent to an independent lab that measures the amount of corrosion to the coupons and determines our dosage/treatment effectiveness.
Maintaining the pH level in our distribution system is another step the PUD takes to protect your drinking water. We aim for a pH between 7.5 and 7.75 to further minimize the possibility of our water being corrosive. The pH is a measure of acidity, and the lower the number, the more acidic and corrosive the water. A pH of 7.0 is considered neutral. We have never exceeded EPD Action Levels during decades of sampling.
For more information, please review our annual Water Quality Report/Consumer Confidence Report.