How to Consume Your Tap Water
The below video provides step-by-step instructions for consuming tap water under the advisory.
USEPA recommends a number of steps to reduce lead in drinking water including flushing your water before drinking, cleaning your faucet aerator, and using cold water for drinking and cooking. You can flush your home’s pipes by running the tap, taking a shower, doing laundry, or doing a load of dishes. Additionally, if you use a filter, proper installation and maintenance of filters is important to ensure filter effectiveness in reducing lead levels. EPA recommends following the manufacturer’s instructions to ensure proper filter use. Even if water contains lead, because your skin does not absorb it from water, uses such as washing hands, bathing, and washing dishes are still safe for children and adults.
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To learn more visit: https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/basic-information-about-lead-drinking-water#reducehome
Citizens of University Park can consume your tap water, if you take the following steps first:
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It’s important to remember that running water through your plumbing and faucets should help corrosion control treatment work better and reduce lead levels.
Click below to view the regulatory guidance from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
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Run your cold tap for 2-3 minutes when water has sat stagnant in internal plumbing, and
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filter cold tap water through faucet or pitcher filters that are certified to remove lead before consuming tap water.
Hundreds of customers were removed from the advisory
Since issuing the advisory, we have removed hundreds of homes that were never impacted by elevated lead levels – because they have no lead in their internal plumbing – from the advisory. Aqua Illinois directly notified all homeowners who were removed from the advisory.
Given that the source of the lead in impacted homes is within those homes’ internal plumbing, if you are under the advisory, please continue to use water regularly throughout your home so the treatment can rebuild the protective coating in your individual home plumbing.
Not sure if your home is under the advisory? Call us at 877.987.2782 today.
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