BCAT News

Although the Town of Burlington has no record of lead pipes being used in town and no lead has been found in its water supply, a change to state and federal lead and copper pipe regulations mean some 6,700 homes are set to receive mailings because pipes leading to their homes have had their lead status deemed ‘unknown.’

Burlington Department of Public Works Director Brian White says that there’s no cause for concern: 

“During the 2010s when we did the big meter replacement project, we had to inventory the meters and pipe size and the material of what was coming into the house,” he said. “So we have documentation in an inventory for every property of what’s coming into the house, and none of those properties had lead coming into their house.” 

Still, he said, the state Department of Environmental Protection wants more proof that there’s no lead anywhere in the entire system, not just what’s coming directly into houses. 

In 1991, the Environmental Protection Agency established regulations setting maximum contaminant levels for lead and copper in the drinking water supply. In 2021, the rules were revised to include requirements that all water systems produce a report identifying lead service lines. Burlington submitted its report on October 15, 2024. 

According to White, some of Burlington’s pipes didn’t have enough evidence to demonstrate that they didn’t have lead in them, and so were classified as ‘unknown,’ even though the town has pretty good evidence that lead pipes weren’t used in town. In the mailing sent to homeowners, White wrote, 

“Although the Town has no records of using lead pipe, and long term DPW employees have never encountered lead materials in the field, and none were identified by the inventory, MassDEP still requires the Town to notify residents if their water service material is listed in the report as ‘unknown.’ DPW routinely tests for lead and copper in the water supply and has records of testing as far back as at least July of 1992. DPW has not found any documentation that Burlington was in exceedance of these levels during this time. Additionally, Burlington’s drinking water is specifically treated for corrosion to prevent lead and copper in the old household plumbing or fixtures that might be in your home from leaching into the water.” 

White said he worried that some homeowners would be concerned because of the recent PFAS situation, where a rule change meant Burlington was no longer in compliance and the town had to spend millions to install a treatment system. This, he said, is different. 

“Unlike PFAS, where testing got so good and research agencies started researching certain chemicals and identified stuff that shouldn’t be in there, that’s not the case with this,” he said. “I’m guessing with how soon this happened, people are going to be concerned. But in this case, nothing has changed. The DEP is just treating unknowns differently than they had in the past.” 

Residents who receive the notice are not required to take any action, but White said if they want to be extra safe, they can buy cheap lead testing kits at most hardware stores. 

“Part of the regulation is that until DEP is satisfied that the ‘unknown’ is likely to not be lead, these notices have to go out every year,” White said. “That’s 6700 notices every year. It’s a couple thousand dollars of mailing expenses. So for the ease of mind of residents, we want to figure out what the options are to get these pipes off the schedule and assure people there’s no issues.”