SCRANTON, Pa. — If you get a postcard in the mail from Pennsylvania American Water, you shouldn't throw it away. The water company mailed out more than 125,000 postcards to customers in northeastern Pennsylvania about the material of their water service line as part of a project to upgrade them free of charge.
New EPA regulations require Pennsylvania American Water to identify the unknown service lines and replace them if they are made of lead.
"Typically, the homeowner would be responsible for any damages or anything that would need to be replaced there. But due to this regulation, we have to offer to replace these for them free of charge," said Bryan Hooks, the project supervisor for this program
Hooks says the age of the home is a sign of whether the pipe might be lead.
"In my experience, homes that were built in the 50s or earlier are going to have a higher likelihood of having a lead or galvanized service line."
It's not just up to the homeowner to determine if they have a problem with the lines. The water company is replacing them as they go along on projects they're working on.
"Not that we have a problem with lead in our water, but just to be safe, we want to make sure that we can give our customers peace of mind and remove all the lead from the system."
The postcard has a QR code to scan so customers can fill out a questionnaire and upload a photo of their service line. You can also call and schedule someone to take a look if you're unsure about the material of the service line.
"We have a contractor — Greeley and Hansen — that's working with us hand in hand to do these identifications. So, they'll have a badge that lets the customer know that they're associated with American Water, but they'll be calling customers and trying to set up appointments in order to gain access to their homes to identify the lines for them," Hooks explained.
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