BENTON COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark. — Benton County Water District #1 notified hundreds of their customers on Friday, Oct. 4, that they were "unable to confirm whether or not [their] water contains lead or copper."
In the letter, the Benton County Water District #1 said they are working with state authorities to assess and address the issue.
"There were 746 homes that we had that were labeled as "unknown,'" Benton County Water District #1 Manager Jacob Davis said. "And if it's labeled as unknown, we consider that as they could have lead and copper inside of their home."
Benton County Water District #1 serves residents in Rogers, Bentonville, Avoca, Little Flock, and Pea Ridge.
The letter provided to customers:
Davis said the letters sent out were precautionary due to new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules established in 2021.
According to the Arkansas Department of Health’s (ADH) website, the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR) instructs "a compliance deadline of October 16, 2024, for water systems to complete their initial service line inventories."
Davis said the water district used an outside group to gather data on their 2,000-plus customers.
"They went off of historical data like when the home was built," Davis said. "A lot of this affects homes that were built before 1970. Any home built after that, a lot of the lead and copper was not used inside of the home."
Despite notifying residents of the possibility of lead and copper in the water, Davis said testing showed that the drinking water for residents at this time is safe.
"Of the 746 homes that we did have come back, 20 of those were tested, the water did come back safe," Davis said.
Davis added the state conducted testing of the district’s water samples in July and they found that the "finished water quality is within the allowable limits of the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations for Lead and Copper."
Davis said additional testing will be conducted on those 746 homes in the future to meet federal guidelines.
"Our next step we have is due in October of 2027," Davis said. "We have a contracted crew and they will come in and they will dig up at our water meter, and they'll also verify what the pipe is going into the house and as soon as we get those back, we will notify those 746 homes of what was found. From there, we’ll be able to verify if they have lead and copper pipes."
For residents still concerned, Davis said they can reach out to the water district for any questions. He added residents can take precautionary measures, including running the tap for one to two minutes before using water for drinking or cooking and using a certified water filter that is effective at removing lead and copper.
Watch 5NEWS on YouTube.
Download the 5NEWS app on your smartphone:
Stream 5NEWS 24/7 on the 5+ app: How to watch the 5+ app on your streaming device
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com and detail which story you're referring to.