Commissioners approve a sanitation grant for residents who may have lead in their water supply
Published at 12:06 am Thursday April 6, 2023
SALISBURY — Rowan County residents who live in the northeastern part of the county near the unincorporated area of Dukeville could be eligible for a grant that covers the cost of making repairs in their plumbing system to clean up material that may be causing it that lead is leaching out of their drinking water.
At Monday’s meeting, the Rowan County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to establish the 2023 plumbing grant for lead remediation for qualifying Northeast Rowan County system program customers.
The program is for those who get their water from the North East Rowan County Water System, which began distributing public water to customers in 2018. The system serves a population of approximately 200 people and sources water from Salisbury-Rowan Utilities.
There is no source of lead in the public water supply, but lead can enter drinking water from old or obsolete private plumbing systems on some customer properties, according to outside engineering consultants hired by the county.
“The lead actually came from lead solder joints in the house’s interior plumbing,” said Randy Cress, deputy district manager and chief information officer.
Residents who live in the northeast portion of the borough and wish to test their water for lead can call the borough superintendent’s office and request a lead testing kit. If the results come back and lead is detected, residents can submit those results to the county and are then eligible for the sanitation grant program.
The county will also be sending out notices to any customers that may be affected.
“I have requested the Northeast Water Systems customer list from Salisbury-Rowan Utilities so that we can send this mail,” Cress said.
Cress explained how the application and distribution of the grants will work:
If a customer tests and finds lead in their drinking water, they should contact at least two plumbers to see what repairs are needed and to get an estimate of the repair costs. The customer is then 100 percent eligible for the plumbing grant program, and the district reimburses residents for the cost of the repair.
County officials are in the process of setting up a website for people to apply for the county grant. It will probably be online next week.
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