City inventory of Goshen water service lines underway

Goshen City Hall

GOSHEN — With a booth at First Friday celebrations, the city of Goshen's Water Utility kicked off public outreach efforts last Friday night for its lead-safe water service line inventory program.

By Oct. 16, 2024, the city of Goshen's Water Utility is required to submit a completed inventory of water service line pipe materials to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM). While administered by the state, this requirement is part of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) 2021 revision of the Lead and Copper Rule.

At the Monday, June 5, City Council meeting at 6 p.m., city staff will present their efforts so far to meet this regulatory deadline.

The presentation covers regulatory updates, inventory methods, the public outreach resource hub website, and summer door-knocking efforts to assist customers in identifying their service line material.

Water service-line materials can be field checked by digging small holes to uncover them ("potholing") and by observing water pipes coming into a building attached to a water meter. To conserve funds, the city will focus on the latter method first, according to a statement from city officials.

Summer staff will be making their way through the city over the next several months making home visits to record service line materials. These efforts will be continued into 2024.

As an alternative, city residents and facility managers can self-report service line materials using a guided survey found at https://leadsafe-goshenindiana.hub.arcgis.com/pages/verify.

Dustin Sailor, director of Public Works, said, "Goshen Water Utility is committed to transparency throughout the process of inventorying water service lines across the city and will use the information we gather to make smart decisions about our public infrastructure funds."

The lead-safe hub website includes more information on the current status of the water-supply system and will be updated frequently to reflect the city's latest efforts and findings https://leadsafe-goshenindiana.hub.arcgis.com.

The U.S. Congress recently passed a bill raising the debt ceiling to $31.4 trillion, at least until January 2025. Congress created the debt ceiling in 1917, and since 1960 has raised the limit 78 — now 79 — times, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Do you believe the debt ceiling still serves a useful purpose?