[0:02] Good afternoon. We're going to convene this meeting. It is 1.02 p.m. on Tuesday, November 12th. We're

[0:11] going to start with a discussion. Does anybody have any issues or any action items from the

[0:17] second regular meeting that they would like a separate discussion, or have anything

[0:25] Yeah, on the considering.

[0:29] Oh, okay.

[0:50] I'd like to pull 6J.

[0:52] 6J.

[1:00] 6J, we're actually pulling that from the agenda, and it won't be discussed until the next meeting.

[1:05] Oh, you're pulling that?

[1:05] Potentially the next meeting.

[1:06] Okay.

[1:21] Got something.

[1:22] Paul?

[1:23] Yeah.

[1:24] I got one question for you on the police vehicles.

[1:29] Do we wait?

[1:30] On the police vehicles, the new one?

[1:31] That is five C police

[1:41] vehicles for 485,000. Yeah that right there now on the

[1:45] older ones what are they doing they're going on mileage or did we get any

[1:48] racked so generally on the emergency vehicles police cars and fire trucks

[1:53] ambulance we don't go by maintenance as much as we go by mileage simply because

[2:00] we can't really afford for one of those to break down so we generally rely

[2:04] on the fleet department to make that determination when they've hit the mileage

[2:08] when it's time to, I think we sell them or trade them in. What's our threshold on

[2:14] that, Keen, do you know? Like 150,000? Yeah, it's a hundred or less. A hundred or less.

[2:18] Yeah. All right, did you need a presentation on that? No, I'm good. I just

[2:22] had that question. Thank you, Keen.

[2:26] Well, if there are no other issues,

[2:28] we're going to go straight to the presentations. We've got the presentation

[2:31] by Dr. Jason Barfnick.

[2:41] Good afternoon Mayor Pro Tem Council. Before we get started I

[2:45] want to say a little bit about the water. This presentation is to give you an

[2:51] update and is based on a requirement for provisions passed by the federal

[2:56] government to the EPA, to TCEQ and then delegated down to the cities for

[3:02] all public water supply systems to do is survey, initial survey of their service lines, both

[3:10] public and private side, provide that information available to the public and then to work toward

[3:18] identifying any unknown services whether they contain lead, made out of lead or not.

[3:27] Before I get started, there's no indication that there are any lead issues with the water

[3:32] supply in Bryan.

[3:33] So we don't want anybody to take away from this that there is a problem with lead in

[3:38] the water within Bryan, Texas.

[3:41] It's not a Flint, Michigan situation.

[3:45] I want to go through this.

[3:46] Your seat gave you a copy of the presentation.

[3:50] There's also a copy of the letters that we will be sending out and so if you have any

[3:56] questions about that you can ask, but I will go through the presentation and then summarize

[4:00] at the end that there is not a problem with the water in Brian, but I want to get that

[4:04] point across.

[4:05] If we have questions would you like us to shout them out or you won't wait until

[4:08] the end of the presentation?

[4:09] No, go ahead and stop me and ask as we go along.

[4:11] So go over some background information, there's some specific definitions, go over

[4:16] For the lead testing that we've done and Brian in the water over time, our current efforts

[4:22] that we have to comply with this recommendations and then questions at the end.

[4:28] So when we talk about service line, what we're talking about is the piping that comes from

[4:32] the city main, which is either located in the street right away or within an easement

[4:38] that goes up to the meter.

[4:39] That's where we have a dividing line between public and private.

[4:43] it.

[4:44] And then the private side is from the meter to the house or the structure or wherever

[4:48] the water is used.

[4:49] So you have the public side, utility online, and then the customer online.

[4:54] In this program, we're required to identify both sides.

[5:01] Lead pipes were used in back in the 1800s all the way up into the 1980s.

[5:06] And around 1986, Congress passed the Safe Drinking Water Act, which banned the use

[5:11] of lead.

[5:12] In July of 1988, lead piping was banned in Texas.

[5:16] In June of 1991, EPA adopted its first lead and copper rule that provided some provisions

[5:22] for utilities to do testing within the system on the water, typically through the house

[5:29] or a structure to see what kind of lead concentration may be in the water as it's being used.

[5:36] In December of 21, EPA finalized the lead and copper rule revision.

[5:41] It was the first touch of the lead and copper rule in 30 years.

[5:46] In 22, they issued the guidance on our initial service line inventory.

[5:50] A few, about a month or so ago, you may have heard that the lead and copper rule

[5:55] improvement revision was adopted and passed by the Biden administration.

[5:59] It provided a 10-year window to remove any lead service lines found.

[6:05] October the 16th, we were required to provide our initial service line inventory to the

[6:11] state, which we did comply with.

[6:14] In 30 days after that, by November the 16th, we were required to have postmark notifications

[6:20] to customers that either had a status of unknown galvanized requires replacement

[6:26] or a lead service line.

[6:28] According

[6:31] to this 40 CFR 141, water systems must provide notification within

[6:38] 30 days of completion of the lead service line inventory. That's the October

[6:41] 16th date. Water systems, we shall also provide notices to new customers at the

[6:46] time of service initiation. We work with BTU, if somebody comes in and there is

[6:51] an unknown status at an address and the tenant changes, new customer.

[6:58] The new

[7:00] service line their status is unknown until we work through all of these that

[7:04] we have.

[7:07] So how does lead get into the water? Lead is more soluble and acidic

[7:11] water, a pH of 6.5 and lower. So you may have a pipe that is there that's made out

[7:17] of lead. The water sets in it overnight when it's not being used. Maybe some of

[7:23] the lead in the pipe leaches into the water. Next morning you turn on the

[7:26] tap and here comes that first surge of water through the pipe and into

[7:30] the house and maybe into your glass water. Lead is from lead piping, plumbing fixture,

[7:38] solder, and fittings that leach into the water. City Brian's water, pH is 8.3 to 8.5,

[7:45] so give a little pH scale. We're to the right, more alkaline side of things. If you're

[7:51] on the left side, you would either be treating that water to bring it up or making sure

[7:55] that you don't have that lead leaching into your water.

[8:01] On October the 8th, the EPA, as I mentioned, released the final lead and copper rule improvements.

[8:07] Lead service line replacement requires the public water system to identify and replace

[8:11] all lead pipes within 10 years.

[8:13] It changes the process for sampling lead in the drinking water, lowers the allowable

[8:17] lead limits in drinking water, requires more consistent and communicable citizens

[8:22] about lead pipe replacement schedules and locations.

[8:25] That's more specific if your water is above the threshold that they have set.

[8:33] And then it lowered the lead trigger level, which is now currently a 15 parts per billion

[8:37] down to 10.

[8:40] Get into the definitions.

[8:41] What is a lead service line?

[8:43] Lead service line is just what it is.

[8:45] It's a line that's made out of lead.

[8:48] Galvanized requires replacement.

[8:49] It is a galvanized service line that is or was at any time downstream of a lead

[8:55] service line, or is currently downstream of a lead status unknown service line.

[9:01] If the water system is unable to determine that the galvanized service line was never

[9:04] downstream of a lead service line, we must presume that it was upstream, was the lead

[9:11] service line.

[9:12] So the default is, if I can't prove that it was not lead, I have to assume that

[9:16] it was lead.

[9:18] Out of all of them that are listed here, I think that one's going to be the one

[9:21] that we're going to have the most trouble proving because there are a lot of places in town

[9:26] where we have gone in and replaced our water mains since they were first built and we replaced

[9:32] them and now there's a copper service but that line may have been put in in 2005.

[9:38] The house that's there may have been 1940 model or 1950.

[9:42] I don't have the chances of me having a record that the original service line was

[9:48] is not a lead line is going to be pretty low.

[9:52] A non-lead line, a service line is determined through an evidence-based record method or

[9:56] technique not to be lead or galvanized requiring replacement.

[10:00] And an unknown service line is the service line material is not known to be lead, galvanized

[10:04] or non-lead service line such as where there is no documented evidence supporting

[10:09] material classification.

[10:10] So we're actually going to have to go out and actually physically locate, find, dig

[10:16] up and verify what the material type is. Question? Yeah. Is the those clay pipes

[10:23] coming in? The clay pipes is on the sewer side. On the sewer side? Yeah, this is just

[10:28] on the water distribution side of the system. It won't come into play? That is

[10:31] correct.

[10:34] Historical lead testing. The city of Bryan has tested for lead and

[10:37] water going back to the early mid-1990s. It falls in line with the

[10:41] original lead and copper rule in 1991. We qualify for reduced sampling and

[10:46] monitoring due to our historical low test results as far as the concentrations of

[10:51] lead in the water. We test for lead every three years as required and 30

[10:56] samples were taken throughout the city. If we didn't qualify for reduced sampling

[11:00] that number of samples would be 60.

[11:05] This is a graph showing going back to 2006

[11:08] every three years what the lead concentrations have been out of the

[11:12] 30 sites. You can see it's hovered around two parts per billion down

[11:16] to say one and a half. The top, the 15 parts per billion was the threshold and the new lead

[11:24] limit is the one at 10 parts per billion.

[11:29] Dr. Barfkine, I'm looking at 2018, we had a

[11:32] reduction and then it jumped back up in 2024 slightly obviously. But do you have an explanation

[11:39] for that? I don't know what that is. I don't know if it's a potential.

[11:47] I know in

[11:47] Anything below one part per billion, they call that a non-detect, so I don't know if it may be something

[11:53] from one of our wells that were running at the time that maybe it had a little more in it or

[11:59] It just turned out the way that it was sampling that maybe one of the sites had a little more than it did in the years past

[12:05] Regardless, we are way below both the old and the new by the limit correct

[12:11] So current efforts on our lead service line inventory we submitted that on October the 16th

[12:16] there are 36,446 address points that we identified throughout the city. We're

[12:21] going by address points and what does that mean? Well suppose you have an

[12:25] apartment complex and each unit is addressed separately then if there's a

[12:29] hundred units in there then we may have one meter but it's actually a hundred

[12:33] units it's a hundred customers that we would have to notify depending on the

[12:37] service line. Currently we have seven just over 17,700 of unknown 15,910

[12:45] we've identified as non-LED out of that 36,000, about 2,800 of them are vacant lots. We have

[12:52] found two galvanized requires replacement lines and our intent is to meet with those customers

[12:58] individually just not rely on a mail out to them but I've asked staff to get with those two

[13:04] customers and discuss with them what the letter means and what the requirements are

[13:09] and then zero lead service lines yes sir that's you talking about the city

[13:15] service line up to the meter right yes sir okay and what if the house will

[13:18] build before 1988 yes so how is that being addressed it's still getting lead

[13:24] right well so the pipes are still is there any losing by the government about

[13:29] the houses I mean on the other side of the meter so really what this rule is

[13:33] doing is from the main to the house mm-hmm it doesn't cover any plumbing

[13:37] inside the structure. What we are required to do is identify both the public

[13:43] and the private side of the service line. So for the 17,759 unknowns, we will

[13:49] continue to look for records to see if we can identify any information on those.

[13:54] And even if I find that, say in these older neighborhoods where we replaced a

[13:59] water line, I know that my water line and service line may be copper, but I

[14:04] can't call it designated non-lead or galvanized requires replacement or

[14:09] whatever other than unknown until I identify what the private line is. So we

[14:16] will have to physically identify by some method what the private service line is

[14:22] made out of. Right now we're planning to do that just outside the meter box but

[14:28] who's to say that right outside the meter box that piece wasn't replaced

[14:31] and then, you know, 10 feet later, you know, that's another material type. So there is going to be,

[14:37] you know, an effort on our part. We're not digging up the entire service line to identify the material.

[14:42] We are picking spots right outside the boxes to evict that identification.

[14:48] I've got a stupid question. Obviously, this is a federal mandate that we do this. Yep.

[14:53] Through the, what did we say the, what the? Ledney Copper Rule? Yes. His federal government

[14:59] for body.

[15:00] Is there any funds that could assist in?

[15:03] There are some funds, even the ARPA funds that they provided could be used for this. And I

[15:07] think that's one of the things that, you know, we need to be discussed as we go forward on

[15:12] the private side, you know, how would we want to handle the replacement of that if

[15:18] it's warranted? Is it something that we want to provide, say, like on the service,

[15:23] on the sewer side? And when we go out and smoke test and we've identified it defects,

[15:26] We've come up with a program where we would help pay, and then the customer could then

[15:31] pay us back through a loan program over time.

[15:34] That's one option.

[15:35] Another option would be, you know, possibly the city participates in replacing that.

[15:42] Whenever we do a relocation where we've had meters in the back, we relocated the meters

[15:46] to the front because that's where we want them.

[15:49] We're putting that new line in to reconnect the house we're paying for that.

[15:53] So there may be some legal implications to us spending public funds on the

[15:57] private side but that may be a topic for us to discuss as we go through this

[16:01] process and and identifying the lines and how many we have looks to me almost

[16:07] eighteen thousand unknown the the staff time required to ultimately identify to

[16:14] their to their satisfaction just seems like it's going to be massive it's

[16:19] going to be effort.

[16:23] So our current efforts are a records review for

[16:25] infrastructure and house bill dates. So we've looked at record drawings. We've

[16:30] looked at through BCAD when structures were built, when subdivisions were

[16:34] plated, field identification of materials. We have done some of that

[16:38] already, both the city side and the customer side. We've developed a form

[16:42] internally for our water crews to use when they go out and are working on

[16:46] the lines for them to provide that information back to us on what they

[16:50] found. We've created a website on our service line inventory, provides information, allows

[16:56] the customer to share information to us if they know that they've replaced their line

[17:00] or they just happened to work on it and they know what's there. They can provide that information

[17:04] back to us through that web form. Service line inventory verification, it's an ongoing effort.

[17:11] The inventory is to be a living inventory. It will be updated regularly and submitted to the

[17:16] state and we're required to submit it annually to them and update it and keep

[17:21] that thing going until we identified all the lines.

[17:27] So what if lead or galvanized

[17:28] requires replacement is found? If lead is found we're going to notify the state, we

[17:32] will notify the customer and we're going to replace that service line

[17:35] immediately that's on the public side. If we find a galvanized requires

[17:39] replacement most of these are going to be on the private side because it's

[17:44] to be downstream of a lead line or a line that is unknown. We would notify the customer

[17:51] proposing that we take a sample and test it just like what we do now for our EPA lead and copper rule

[17:57] just to see if there is any lead that has been trapped in that galvanized pipe that may be

[18:03] leaching out and may be in the customer's piping. That test is going to be around $50 or so

[18:09] for us to do, but that would give some peace of mind to the customer what may be in the

[18:14] water and see how close it is to our historical testing numbers.

[18:19] So Dr. Borsig, in the historical districts in Bryant, are there any evidence or trace

[18:24] of some of those houses that were built before 1988?

[18:27] Oh, it was a lot of houses that were built before 1988.

[18:29] Oh, it was a lot of houses that were built before 1988.

[18:29] Are they coming with a lead pipe?

[18:32] I don't, right now, I don't have any evidence right now that, you know, that

[18:36] there is currently a lot of lead piping in the city. Is there a chance that there

[18:44] is lead piping on some of these services? Yes. May we find some? Yes, we might.

[18:51] That's the process that the EPA is wanting to do with this, is to make the

[18:56] water systems go through and identify and when you find them replace them to

[19:01] make these safer place to try to improve the water system. I think even if we

[19:07] find some because our water is more alkaline not as corrosive I don't know

[19:12] that it would be an issue as far as the customer consuming lead by the use of the

[19:18] water and certainly if the council wishes as we go through this process if

[19:23] we find some lead service lines in your district we can certainly provide

[19:27] that information to you if that is a desire of the council as we go through

[19:30] this process.

[19:34] I would say if we find any, it would be in these older neighborhoods, you

[19:40] know, Brian Original Townside or the older neighborhoods where the houses are older is

[19:44] where I would expect to find them.

[19:48] Water services replace any public-led service lines found

[19:51] immediately and notify the state. Private lines notify the customer. If it's a galvanized

[19:55] requires replacement, we're offered to test the water for lead levels and provide

[20:00] information as far as potential sources for lead and how the customer can go

[20:06] about minimizing lead consumption and then utilize the loan program for

[20:11] private replacement. Now if there's more of an effort if the council wishes that

[20:15] we budget a certain amount per year to help the private citizen replace these

[20:21] lines we can have those conversations as we get into budget and confirm

[20:24] legally we can do all that we can certainly have those conversations.

[20:29] Things to do to reduce lead exposure. Before drinking or cooking, flush your

[20:33] home's pipes by running the tap, taking a shower, doing laundry, or running the

[20:38] dishwasher. So if you don't feel comfortable, there are some things here

[20:41] that you can do proactively to get that first set of water that may have been

[20:45] sitting in the pipe flushed out before you put water in your glass or you

[20:50] use it. The amount of time depends on how long your service line is. I think

[20:57] I calculated that based on the one inch pipe going across the street maybe 80

[21:02] feet long. I think there was about two two and a half gallons of water in there

[21:06] so it does not a whole lot of water in there and wouldn't take long for it to

[21:09] be circulated out. Use only cold water for drinking cooking and making baby

[21:15] formula. Boiling water does not remove the lead. Use a water filter that is

[21:20] certified to remove lead and don't run hot water through the filter and

[21:25] and clean your faucet screen, also known as the aerator regularly.

[21:30] The lead levels are historically low, but low-actionable level in Brian.

[21:35] There's not a lead problem within the water system.

[21:38] Service line inventory will continue and customers notified

[21:41] when required. Any public lead service line found will be replaced immediately.

[21:46] As I mentioned, we will notify the state, we will communicate that with the customer,

[21:50] provide

[21:50] literature to them on on what we found and and how they may reduce exposure to

[21:56] lead and any galvanized requires replacement lines found for the private

[21:59] line will be communicated with the customer or the property owner. In some

[22:04] cases we have the tenant which needs to be notified because they're the one

[22:06] that's using the water and we may have a property owner that may be out of

[22:10] state out of the city that we would need to discuss on anything we decide

[22:15] to do about what needs to be done as far as replacing the line.

[22:21] Do you

[22:22] Any questions?

[22:23] Dr. Barbara, I have one question.

[22:25] Obviously, this is not a problem right now.

[22:28] We are 2% or lower, which is way below the limits required.

[22:35] Do we know how we compare with other cities in Texas?

[22:38] Are we lower typically, or do we have that data?

[22:41] I do not know that question or the answer to that question.

[22:44] I'd have to do some research to see what other cities are doing, and a lot of cities

[22:50] get their water from surface water, ours coming from the ground. I don't know how that chemistry

[22:55] differs. I know in some parts of the country they have to add some chemicals to their water

[23:02] so it's not so corrosive. I think we're blessed in that sense where we're not required to do that

[23:07] because of the naturally occurring water and the pH that it's at whenever we pull it out

[23:13] of the ground. But I can do some research there and see and provide some information

[23:19] to counsel on that. I would just be curious, just roughly.

[23:26] On page six, so

[23:28] you're saying the lead is more soluble in acid water, 6.5 and lower. So the city

[23:33] of Bryant's 8.3 to 8.5? Yes. Okay are we measuring that on a consistent basis just

[23:39] in case? We're measuring that. All the tests that we have done, it's been

[23:44] in that range right there 8.3 to 8.5. It's been a little higher and it's

[23:50] It's not dropped below eight that I've seen.

[23:53] So are you adding to the pH like soda ash or anything like that?

[23:57] We're not adding anything.

[23:58] When it goes down or high or anything like that?

[24:00] We're not adding anything because it's been so consistent of where it's been.

[24:03] We're not having to add any chemicals to it.

[24:06] We pull the water out of the ground, we cool the water, we add chlorine to disinfect

[24:11] it, to get our residual, and we send it through the system.

[24:15] To

[24:19] recap, we have not yet found any cases of lead service lines in Bryant.

[24:24] I have not found any, throughout this inventory process, I have not found any lead service

[24:28] lines.

[24:29] We have found two, and I expect we will find more galvanized lines, or we have replaced

[24:35] our service line in the past.

[24:39] So our line was copper, the downstream side was galvanized.

[24:43] and I expect we will find more of those as we get more back into the older parts

[24:49] of town and where we have replaced our water line and service line. I expect that

[24:54] number will go up.

[24:58] All right anybody have any more questions? So just to recap the

[25:05] 17,000 whatever number of customers will be getting letters very soon. So there's

[25:13] information there. If you hear of anything, information provides who they are to call.

[25:18] They have any questions and we have a website that provides information.

[25:22] Have the letters been drafted yet?

[25:25] The letters are drafted. You have that. It's basically a template. It's slightly modified

[25:31] from what the state provided us as a template. We have English on one side and Spanish

[25:35] on the other. The letter will go out as current resident, mailing, name, and then

[25:42] the address.

[25:45] The two that will not be mailed are going to be the galvanized

[25:47] requires replacement. I've asked staff to meet with those individually so they

[25:51] just not get a letter and not understand what we were doing.

[25:58] Very good.

[26:00] All right. Well thank you Dr. Parker. Thank you.

[26:04] All right that is all we have on the

[26:05] agenda so we're going to go ahead and adjourn and go upstairs.

Nov 12, 2024 Bryan City Council Workshop Meeting

Agenda

Transcript