by Geoff Fox
Back in August, the Town of Hancock asked residents to participate in a federal lead and copper survey concerning the water connections to their houses.
The survey was to be completed by October 1.
Town Manager Mike Faith said the town met the goal with 87 out of 800 taxpaying households completing the survey.
Faith said the number of those who participated is actually closer to 100 as there are a few that still need to be added to the spreadsheet.
“You don’t expect a high participation rate,” he said.
There is still work to be done to collect more information and it will continue into the New Year.
Faith said households who didn’t participate in the survey can contact Town Hall and report the information with a picture of their water connection and the town will report it or, if they’re having trouble locating the connection, Faith said the town could send one of their guys to help locate it.
Faith added they can’t force people to participate to respond, but the town did its part of the survey.
“We didn’t find any lead contaminant anywhere in the system,” Faith said.
The town tests the water from the well, which is the town’s water supply, and the results of those tests are posted every year.
He said the town’s water supply is safe to drink, but the federal government’ s concern is once the water service gets to the house and into the house, are there any contaminants.
At one point, many years ago, Faith said Hancock Public Works had removed lead from the town lines.
Since it was soft and pliable, it was used to seal up certain areas, Faith said, noting it was never about actual lead pipes, just lead being used as a sealant.
“Of course if you do that on a water fixture, you can get lead in the water supply,” Faith said.
The town, he added, cleaned that up years ago.
At this point, no one has reported a problem with lead and nothing has been identified, but there’s still work to do to oversee water pipe safety.
“We’ll just keep after it,” Faith said.
Eventually, once there is time and more staffing, there is a possibility the town could go door-to-door to those who haven’t responded to the survey and see if they can contact them that way.
The town does have records of who participated in the survey, Faith said.