EPA Demos New Lead Identification Tech

This week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hosted a demonstration of emerging technologies to help combat lead exposure. The technologies on display at EPA’s Lead Service Line Identification Test Bed in Edison, New Jersey, have the potential to identify lead service lines faster, cheaper and with less disturbance than traditional methods.

“EPA’s Lead Service Line Test Bed provides researchers with a dedicated space to evaluate innovative technologies under controlled conditions and assess their potential to address a critical public health challenge,” explained Teresa Booeshaghi, associate administrator of the Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions (OASES). “By advancing the science behind lead service line identification we can help more reliably address the issue while reducing the need for expensive excavation.”

EPA administrators witnessed the technology demonstrations from researchers at Dartmouth College and Drexel University.

Dartmouth University researchers demonstrated their electromagnetic induction (EMI) technology, which uses electromagnetic fields to induce and measure responses from buried metal pipes. Researchers analyze these responses to help distinguish pipe materials, including lead and copper, without exposing the pipes. Drexel’s team demonstrated their stress wave technology, which uses mechanical vibrations to help locate lead service lines. The researchers generate the vibrations by striking an extension rod connected to an accessible service line valve. The ground sensors capture signals traveling through the pipe and surrounding soil to help distinguish lead from non-lead service lines.

Service lines are the pipes that carry drinking water from water mains to buildings, including homes, schools and offices. If a service line is made of lead, it can pose serious health risks, particularly for young children. Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, public water systems are required to submit inventories detailing the materials that make up their service lines, including lead.

Most water systems—more than 97%—have completed these initial inventories. Technologies like those developed by Dartmouth and Drexel are making it easier and more cost-effective for water systems to identify exactly where those lead service lines are located, the EPA said.

“You can’t replace what you can’t find,” explained Michael Martucci, EPA Region 2 administrator. “Giving water systems better, less labor-intensive ways to locate lead pipes could make a tremendous difference for communities across the country.”

Learn more about EPA’s Lead Service Line Identification Test Bed.