Did you know that San Jose Water (SJW) regularly tests drinking water for lead in the homes of its customers? We are happy to be able to report that all the water that we serve to our customers meets or surpasses the Federal and State regulations for lead and copper, as well as other parameters.
In addition to testing water for lead on a regular basis, all community water systems (CWS), like SJW, were required to submit to the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) an inventory of known partial or total lead service lines in their water distribution systems by July 1, 2018. This includes all pipes, plumbing fittings, and fixtures.
The results are in and you can be proud that the water system supplying your water is in great shape. The SWRCB released a map of all CWS showing which CWS have lead service lines or fittings.
SJW inventoried 234,664 service lines in our system and identified 6,142 service lines of unknown material. A map was provided to the SWRCB of our findings. Field work performed by SJW and its consultant in 2016 has shown that the large majority of the 6,142 lines of unknown material are unlikely to contain lead. SJW also has conducted two rounds of Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) monitoring in the last two years and will be conducting another round in 2019. We are in full compliance with all Federal and State regulations.
Next step – SJW and other community water systems will be submitting a schedule for replacing the service lines made of unknown materials to the State Water Resources Control Board by July 1, 2020.
Customers concerned about lead in their water may call us at (408) 279-7900 to have their water tested. Information on lead in drinking water, testing methods, and steps you can take to minimize exposure is available from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline (1-800-426-4791) or at https://www.epa.gov/lead.