SAN ANTONIO – Thousands of San Antonio Water System customers have been notified about possible lead in their water pipes, depending on the age of their homes.
Notices have been sent to customers whose homes or businesses were built before 1989 or properties for which SAWS has no record of the year built.
“Since 1989, lead was outlawed,” said SAWS president and CEO Robert Puente. “The federal government, EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), has asked that we inventory all of the homes.”
Puente said the water utility will mail or email notices to 300,000 SAWS customers.
CLICK HERE FOR PROJECT LEAD RESOURCES AND INFORMATION
The pipes in question are the service lines that connect the SAWS line on the street to a home or business. The customer owns the service lines.
“If they don’t know one way or the other, they can call us and let us know, and we will inspect their home,” Puente said.
SAWS will offer free testing of customer water lines, which customers can sign up for in 2025.
The water utility plans to begin the inspections in January, which could take years to complete.
SAWS is not required to comply fully with the EPA requirement until 2037.
Inspections led by SAWS will be done based on priority, which is determined by information SAWS gathers through the customer service lines.
Customers who believe they could have a lead line are encouraged to notify SAWS about the home being at high risk.
SEARCH YOUR ADDRESS ON THE SAWS “PROJECT LEAD” MAP
You can call the SAWS Lead Line at 210-233-2212 or send an email, including photos of your pipe, to lead@saws.org.
What can you do?
Start by doing a visual inspection of your service line.
If it is a metal pipe and, after wiping away any dirt, it appears shiny, it is likely steel, according to SAWS.
Kirstin Eller, Potable Water Quality Supervisor for SAWS, showed KSAT examples of a lead pipe.
“It’s a very dull color. And if we had something sharp to scratch it, you would scratch it, and it feels soft as far as metal goes,” Eller said.
You can also do a magnet test.
“You want to get a slightly stronger magnet than what you might have on a fridge,” Eller said. “If it’s a lead pipe, it’s not going to stick. If it’s steel or iron, like the galvanized would be, that magnet is going to stick.”
If the magnet does not stick, that doesn’t mean the pipe is lead.
It could also be copper.
“You can use a fine grit sandpaper to kind of clean that off a little bit. You can also take a key or a screwdriver and gently scratch it,” Eller said. “And if it’s copper, it’s going to expose that very copper color just like a new penny.”
Hiring a plumber to inspect the makeup of your pipes is another option at the customer’s expense.
Though the utility believes there is no cause for concern, Eller said filters — even simple pitcher filters — can remove any possible lead.
“Filters are very effective at removing metals,” she said. “Any customer who wants to use a filter out of caution, we just recommend they look at that packaging from the manufacturer.”
If a customer must replace the service line in their home, Puente estimates it could cost $25,000.
There is no safe amount of lead exposure.
Before sending out notices to customers, SAWS said it tested 400 water lines across San Antonio and found no lead.
Eller said the search for lead in customer-owned water lines in San Antonio is like “looking for a needle in a haystack” and that the utility routinely tests water quality.
When asked if there was any reason for customers to stop using water if they received these notices, Puente said no.
“Our water is very safe,” he said. “We got it.”