The City of Richmond Department of Public Utilities has mailed more than 73,000 service line notification letters to customers as part of an expanded effort to identify and remove lead service lines across the city.
The mailing, which DPU says is among the largest in its history, is required under updated federal drinking water regulations and is intended to bring Richmond into compliance with new service line inventory standards. City officials frame the effort as a step toward the stated goal of eliminating lead service lines by 2037.
This year’s notices point residents to an updated Interactive Service Line Inventory Map that relies in part on a predictive computer model approved by the Virginia Department of Health. According to DPU, the model uses factors such as a home’s age, construction records, and neighborhood plumbing patterns to estimate whether a service line is likely made of lead, including lines categorized as “unknown, likely lead.”…