The City of Abilene held a press conference Tuesday morning to address any concerns the community may have about the city’s water supply after high levels of lead and other toxic metals were found in the water at the Postal Office and Federal Courthouse building downtown.
Abilene’s Water Utilities Director Rodney Taylor addressed the public, saying he is confident the City’s water is safe.
He claims the City is required to monitor for lead and copper by the TECQ and EPA. The City has conducted multiple rounds of required sampling over the past few years, according to Taylor who says they’ve made and effort to test residences with copper pipes and lead soldering.
Taylor says none of these tests have yielded alarming results. The heavy levels of lead, copper, and iron that have been found in the Post Office and Federal Courthouse building are isolated to that structure due to the plumbing found in the facility.
Lead and copper have a chance to leech into the water supply from this plumbing if the water is stagnant for a large amount of time and if the faucets and fixtures are not used often, according to Taylor.
He says homeowners with lead and copper elements in their plumbing should be safe if the water is not left sitting in the pipes for a long time.
Taylor ended the press conference on a note of reassurance, saying, “Abilene’s water supply is perfectly healthy, perfectly safe. We have good water in this community. I drink it every day.”
(Information from BigCountryHomepage.com)
