Village of Howard sign, February 7, 2023. PC: Fox 11 Online
HOWARD, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – An effort is underway in Howard to see what kind of water service lines are in the close to 7,000 water utility customer properties in the village. It’s part of a larger initiative that involves the federal government.
About a thousand property owners in Howard recently received a letter asking them to help the village, specifically the water utility, with identifying what type of service lines are in their home or business.
“Ever since the Flint water crisis the federal government has become very interested in the homes and who might have lead service lines and so there’s a new effort going around the state to have water utilities identify what service that municipality or utility owns in the street and then the portion of the service that the homeowner’s own going into the home,” said Geoff Farr, Howard’s Director of Public Works.
Those who receive the letter are being asked to photograph their service lines in a number of places inside their homes, and then email those pictures to the village. A second notice and phone calls will be made to those who don’t respond to the village’s request because it needs to know what type of service line is in every single property in the village.
According to Farr, “If it’s unknown it really means we have to treat it as if it were a lead service until we find out otherwise so it’s much better for us to find out what it is right now and then we can be done with question and then we know everybody will have the right answer.”
Wanting to have the inventory completed before the end of the year, the village doesn’t have the time or manpower to visit every property.
It will visit locations where people don’t have the ability to photograph their lines.
But it believes sending the written request is the best way to reach compliance quickly. “We think this is a nice way to speeding up efficiency for us and for the customer who maybe doesn’t want to take time out of their day to meet with us,” added Farr.
While Howard has sent out letters, Green Bay’s water utility sent staff members into homes to check these service lines.
“We are stewards of public health. One of the things put on us is to check and see, do you have lead on your side, we don’t have lead on our side. Do you have lead on your side? And if so, we need to write that down. We need to get you in a program and we probably, ultimately are going to try and get that replaced,” said Andrea Hay with Green Bay Water.
Whether it’s a five minute appointment with someone visiting your home, or you taking photographs and submitting them to your municipality – every community across the country is supposed to be completing this inventory to ensure everyone’s safety.
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