Assessment of Lead in Drinking Water from Multiple Drinking Water Sampling Programs for a Midsize City

Following an exceedance of the lead action level for drinking water in 2016, the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (PWSA) undertook two sampling programs: the required biannual Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) compliance testing and a home sampling program based on customer requests. The LCR sampling results, at locations expected to be elevated when corrosion is not well controlled, had higher concentrations than customer requested homes, with 90th percentile values for the LCR sites exceeding the action level through 2019 (except for June 2018). Customer-requested concentrations showed greater variability, with the median lead concentration for customer-requested samples below detection for each year of sampling, suggesting only some homes show elevated lead when corrosion control is not fully effective. Corrosion control adjustments brought the utility back into compliance in 2020 (LCR 90th percentile of 5.1 ppb in June 2020); customer-requested sampling after the addition of orthophosphate indicated below detection levels for 59% of samples. Monte Carlo simulations indicate LCR samples do not all represent high lead risk sites, and the application of corrosion control more significantly affects higher lead concentration sites. Broader water quality sampling provides information about specific homes but is not well suited to assessing the efficacy of corrosion control efforts by utilities.

Automated summary

Following an exceedance of the lead action level in drinking water in 2016, the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (PWSA) conducted two sampling programs: biannual Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) compliance testing and a home sampling program based on customer requests. The results showed that LCR sampling sites had higher lead concentrations than customer-requested homes, indicating that some homes show elevated lead levels when corrosion control is not fully effective. Corrosion control adjustments brought the utility back into compliance in 2020, significantly reducing lead concentrations.