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Lead & Copper Survey
LEAD AND COPPER SURVEY – PLEASE REVIEW THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION BEFORE COMPLETING THE SURVEY NEAR THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE.
If you are a customer of GORE PUBLIC WORKS AUTHORITY, we ask that you take a moment to complete this survey. ONLINE is the preferred method but a printed copy may be submitted at Gore Town Hall, 201 S Main St or mailed to GPWA, PO Box 329, Gore, OK 74435 or emailed to publicworks@townofgoreok.gov. It only takes about 5 minutes to complete.
If you are billed for more than one account or service address, please complete a separate survey for each. The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency have mandated that we collect this data as determined by the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions finalized on December 16, 2021. See www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/revised-lead-and-copper-rule. For every customer that provides this information that’s one less service line our staff will have to excavate to determine the service line material.
Gore Public Works Authority is conducting a lead service line inventory due to new state and federal regulations. In performing the lead service line inventory, we need to know the material of both the water supply side and the customer owned side of the service line. We are requesting your help with this identification process. To complete our inventory, we must record the material composition of your service line and report to the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality along with the material of our service line. Gore Public Works Authority is highly confident that we have NO lead service lines on our side of the meter services.
The age of your home or business may help indicate if a lead service line is present. The lead ban in Oklahoma became effective in 1987.
If you had a service line installed or replaced and remember when and what it was made of, please let us know by completing this survey. If you don’t know the material composition of your service line, you can perform a visual inspection where it enters your home or business. We have provided pictures of what these materials look like within the survey. If you are renting, you can ask the owner/manager what the service line material is. They can use the same techniques as listed here.
The Materials Verification Test below can help you figure out if you have a lead, galvanized steel, copper, or plastic service line on the portion of the service line you own. When you have completed the visual inspection, please submit your results using the survey below. Again, we are asking about the material of your service line —not the valving or internal plumbing of your home/business.
If you have a lead or galvanized steel service line, the utility will contact you in the future to confirm the results.
If at all possible, after you submit your survey via this page, email at least one photo showing the material of your service line to publicworks@townofgoreok.gov. Provide your name, GPWA account number, and service address.
The photos should show the scratched surface of the pipe between where the pipe enters your home or business. Submit up to five photos.
We understand that a photo of your service line may be difficult to obtain. If this is the case and you are confident that the service line material reported is accurate, you can take a photo of the hot water heater or where the water line enters the structure from outside.
What you need:
- Flathead screwdriver, or coin
- Strong refrigerator magnet
Steps to check your service line:
- Find the water service line entering your house (or business) as close as possible to the point of entry. If your service line is being excavated by a plumber, etc… between the water meter and structure, it can be also inspected in that location.
NOTE: The incoming water service in your home or business can either come up from the basement floor or out of the wall in the basement. If you have a crawlspace, the water service should be down there and come up from the floor. If your home or business is on a slab, the incoming water service should come up through the main floor (typically in a utility closet).
- Use the flathead screwdriver or coin to carefully scratch the pipe surface.
- Compare the scratched area to the following descriptions:
- If it is the same color as a penny, the pipe is copper. A magnet will not stick to a copper pipe
- If it is a dull gray color with no noticeable scratch on the surface, the pipe is galvanized steel. A magnet will stick to a galvanized steel pipe.
- If it looks shiny and silver, the pipe is made of lead. A magnet will not stick to a lead pipe.
- If it is smooth and red, blue, white, or black, the pipe is plastic. A magnet will not stick to a plastic pipe.
- Report your service line material in this survey.
Dull brown or greenish: You DO NOT have a lead service line. A magnet will not stick to a copper pipe. Scratch the pipe with a screwdriver or coin. If the scraped area is copper in color, like a penny, your service line is copper.
Grey or silver: You DO have a galvanized steel service line that should be replaced. A magnet will stick to a galvanized steel service line. A scratch test is not needed. If you scratch the pipe, it will remain a dull gray.
Grey or silver: You DO have a lead service line that should be replaced. A magnet will not stick to a lead pipe. Scratch the pipe with a screwdriver or coin. If the scraped area is shiny silver and flakes off, the service line is lead.
Red, blue, black, or white: You DO NOT have lead service line. A magnet will not stick to a plastic pipe. A scratch test is not needed.
As we conduct the lead service line inventory, we will use the information you provide as the customer owned portion of the inventory. We will use our records for meter installation and repairs to help conduct our portion of the inventory. Over time we will also be doing visual inspections in and around meter boxes to check material composition of the service lines.
LEAD AND COPPER SURVEY