PIQUA — The city of Piqua has received the results of its 2024 lead compliance sampling and has announced all 31 drinking water samples collected and analyzed for lead had a result of non-detect (less than two parts per billion).

The city contracted with Alloway Labs of Marion, Ohio, to perform the lead/drinking water analysis, said a city of Piqua news flash.

Per U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines, the action level for a water system to be required to analyze and adjust its treatment process is 15 parts per billion. To date, the city of Piqua has never exceeded the action level for lead residual.

Lead is a critically monitored contaminant in drinking water, as it is linked to developmental and neurological disorders in children and an increased risk of dementia in the elderly. Improper water treatment events in Flint, Michigan, and Sebring, Ohio, in 2014 have heightened the awareness of lead contamination and resulted in an increase of lead monitoring for all public drinking water systems nationwide.

Currently, the city of Piqua is required to collect a minimum of 30 samples annually for lead analysis. Sampling locations in the city are determined by the age of the water lines at the sampling sites, composition of those water lines, and locations/neighborhoods most likely to have lead plumbing.

Unstable, corrosive water results in the leaching of lead from water lines, plumbing fixtures and solder. The city of Piqua’s water treatment plant uses pH adjustment and the addition of phosphate in its treatment process to stabilize the community’s drinking water (i.e., to ensure the water is not corrosive). Additionally, the city has also been proactively mapping out the locations of existing lead service lines in our water system and creating a program to eventually have these lines replaced. More than 220 such lines and fixtures have been replaced over the last six years.

Those with questions about the sampling results may call the Piqua Water Plant at 937-778-2090.