Lansing Sun

City of Leslie issued the following announcement on Dec 9.

Please see the DPW page on the city website for more information by clicking HERE.

In 2018, the Michigan Safe Drinking Water Act (MSDWA) was changed to include more stringent procedures for testing and analysis for lead and copper. The new regulations are intended to have a more proactive approach in monitoring each community’s lead and copper levels.

Since 1992, the City of Leslie, which has approximately 790 total water customers, including roughly 190 houses with lead service lines (or about 24%) that connect to the city’s water main, has regularly tested for lead and copper. The MSDWA changed the sampling methodology to test the first and fifth liter, which effectively targets the water in the service line that connects the home to the water main at the street. The state lead standard is 15 parts per billion (ppb). The state requires cities whose testing exceeds the standard to provide a public education campaign advising homeowners of actions they can take to mitigate any lead that may come from their lead service lines.

In accordance with the MSDWA, Leslie tested 20 of the 190 houses with lead service lines. The testing under this method resulted in a 90th percentile of 18 ppb, one parts per billion above the state standard. Of these 20 houses with lead service lines, five houses showed levels above the state standard (15ppb), triggering a public advisory and public education campaign.

To start the public education process, the City has set up a dedicated webpage on its website at https://www.cityofleslie.org/department-public-works/pages/lead- testing-update that features a host of information to further inform the public. The page includes steps the public can take to do home tests, as well as, learn about further resources with the State of Michigan and Ingham County Health Department.

The Ingham County Health Department is providing lead-reducing water filters to low-income households in the City of Leslie with children or pregnant women. Because children and fetuses are most at risk of harm to their health from lead, MDHHS recommends every household use a certified lead filter to reduce lead from their drinking water, especially households with a child, pregnant person, or individual with high blood pressure, or people residing in houses built before 1987. MDHHS also recommends making baby formula or cooking with filtered water. Bottled water could also be used for these activities.

All residents should clean their aerators and should flush water from their pipes for at least five minutes by running faucets, taking a shower, washing dishes, or doing a load of laundry.

If a household has a child under 18 years of age or pregnant woman and receives WIC benefits, Medicaid insurance, or cannot afford a water filter, they can receive a free one (filters cost about $35, and their replacement cartridges cost about $15). Filters and filter replacement cartridges will be available at City Hall for distribution on December 13 & 14, 2021 and December 20 & 21, 2021 from 8:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. Please call the office at 517-589-8236 if you need to pick up filters outside of these hours. Please let us know if you are homebound and need filters brought to you.

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy or EGLE (formally the MDEQ) is the state department that evaluates compliance with the Action Level of all lead and copper results collected in each round of sampling. More information on their program can be accessed at www.michigan.gov/MILeadSafe.

Original source can be found here.