Water lines containing lead found in Tyler, replacements could take until 2037

TYLER, Texas ( KETK ) — After a yearlong inventory of service lines, Tyler found water lines that contain lead. Replacements will take years, but they say that water is still safe to drink.

Out of 40,000 service lines, 142 were identified as lead and 3,843 are galvanized steel. However, TWU said it will take until at least 2037 for all city-owned lead service lines to be replaced. Even with the long wait, homeowners will then be responsible for their own portion.

“Everybody’s water is perfectly safe to drink right now and it has been all where doing is moving toward just making sure and mitigating that risk that all of the lead will be gone in the future,” City of Tyler Director of Utilities Kate Dietz said.

Tyler residents can check if their homes have lead pipping by using the city’s interactive water line map.

“You can go to the map and search your address just type it in like you could go to smith county website, and you can find your house and you can find out what your service lines have been identified,” Dietz said.  “It’s really easy for someone to go find out what their service line materials are.”

By Nov. 15, city officials said homeowners will be notified if their houses are affected.

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