SUFFOLK, Va. — Suffolk joins Norfolk and Newport News in completing their lead service line inventories, part of a national mandate from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law aiming to remove every lead pipe in the country in 10 years.
You can go to this website (suffolkserviceline.com) and input your address to see a lead service line map. The map identifies if there are lead service lines either on the public side that connects to the water main and maintained by the city (called the utility side), or on the private side that connects to the property's plumbing, maintained by the customer (called the private side).
There is also a button that says 'Report your service line' that you can select if you know what your service line is made of, but the city does not have records of it in their inventory.
All American cities are required to take an inventory of lead service lines as part of the revised Lead and Copper Rule, enforced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The effects of drinking water tainted with lead can lead to significant, long-term health risks, the EPA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said.
In children, lead exposure can hinder mental and physical development, damage the brain irreversibly and slow down learning.
In adults, lead exposure can cause increased blood pressure, heart disease, cancer and decreased kidney functions.
The City of Suffolk, and many other cities, are in the process of developing a lead service line removal plan. In other cities, the price to replace pipes on the utility side will be completely paid for by funds from the federal government allocated to the city.
To email the city's public utilities department, you can reach them at publicutil@suffolkva.us. Or, you can call them at 757-514-7000 and selecting option 1.
