Durham violated water test rules; 27 systems flunk

Durham broke the rules when the city failed to disclose unflattering lead-testing data, state drinking water regulators determined this week.

Durham was issued a notice of violation Thursday for the infraction, which carries no penalty. The city still faces potential civil penalties, which could include hefty fines, over an October report that showed Durham's drinking water met federal Safe Drinking Water Act standards. The city failed to report results from nearly 700 samples it was required to disclose.

Durham is far from alone in failing to follow lead-testing rules.

Across North Carolina, more than a fourth of the public water systems that were supposed to have tested for lead from June to September either didn't do the sampling, didn't test enough sites, or flunked, according to the state's Public Water Supply Section.

That agency notified 27 systems last week that they had failed and instructed them to notify customers within 60 days. A system fails when it finds more than 15 parts per billion of lead at more than 10 percent of its test sites. Those systems must begin testing for lead every six months instead of up to three years. They also must take steps to improve water treatment, a process that could take three years.

Systems that failed included five small towns, four schools, and several subdivisions and mobile home parks. Lead, which can cause brain damage and other developmental problems, is especially toxic to pregnant woman and young children.

The state sent letters Thursday to 290 public water systems citing them for reporting or lead monitoring violations. Of that number, 214 sent in no lead test results from last summer and 76 failed to submit an adequate number of samples.

Most of the systems issued violations are small, some with customers numbering in the dozens. Durham was alone among the state's big cities in receiving a violation.

Systems that didn't turn in any test results were told, again, to send their data. If they didn't do the tests, they must notify customers. Failure to do that and resume testing subjects them to fines or administrative penalties, according to the letter.

The state is making little or no effort to determine whether public water systems that tested for lead this past summer -- and passed -- tested houses where they were most likely to find lead-tainted water, as required.

In stories last year about threats to the state public and private water supplies, The News & Observer reported that some public water systems were testing houses built after December 1985, when all but a small amount of lead was banned from solder used to join water pipes. Or they were testing houses built years before the ban.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules say systems should test houses built in 1983, 1984 or 1985 if they are available.

Later on, most public water systems confirmed to the state they were testing outside that three-year period. Some said they had no choice because their area was so new, or so old, they had few, if any, houses or mobile homes built then. Others apparently didn't know any better.

The Public Water Supply Section has not matched those reports, showing the age of the test houses, with results filed since October.

Jessica G. Miles, state water supply section chief, said Friday she didn't have enough people to do that job.

Last year the legislature voted to beef up her agency. She's scheduled to get seven new state-paid employees this fiscal year and up to a total of 19 new state employees next fiscal year. Those new positions, together with five new federally funded employees, will increase her staff by about 25 percent.