Lead Action Level Exceedance Public Education

When the system's lead 90th percentile exceeds the action level, 40 CFR 141.85 requires a public-education program. That program goes to persons served by the system, and to a list of local organizations, on a clock that is measured in weeks, not hours. It is a written packet with mandatory language. It is not a phone tree.

This page is that public-education program. It is not the household consumer notice you send after every tap sample: Lead consumer notice after tap sampling. It is not the explanation of the 15 ppb action level: the lead action level. Confirm which Lead and Copper Rule package your primacy agency is enforcing this period (the longstanding LCR, the LCR revisions, or LCRI items that are already in force). This isn't legal advice.

Three different lead notices. Do not collapse them.

• Consumer notice of individual tap results (40 CFR 141.85(d)). Site-specific. Goes to the people at the tap you sampled, after every compliance sample, even when the 90th percentile is under the action level.
• Tier 1 public notice for a lead action level exceedance. System-wide, 24-hour clock, after the 90th percentile exceeds the action level. See SDWA public notice tiers. That notice does not satisfy public education, and public education does not satisfy Tier 1.
• Public education after a lead action level exceedance (40 CFR 141.85(a) and (b)). This page. Broader audience, mandatory content, a longer delivery list, and a certification under 40 CFR 141.90.

An action level is not an MCL. The 90th percentile test and what "exceedance" means are explained on the 15 ppb page linked above. See also MCL vs treatment technique vs action level. Do not skip the household consumer notices because you are writing the town-wide education packet.

How soon, and how long it runs

The longstanding federal public-education clock in 40 CFR 141.85 is within 60 days after the end of the tap sampling period in which the exceedance occurred. For community systems on standard six-month monitoring, that period-end is typically June 30 or December 31. For systems on annual or less frequent tap sampling, the period-end is typically September 30, or the last day of an alternate four-month window the state set.

Lead and Copper Rule Improvements keep a 60-day-from-period-end frame for the public-education tasks after a system-wide exceedance, and they change content, delivery, and (on the LCRI compliance date) the action level itself. Do not invent a new federal deadline. Ask the primacy agency which clock and which action level they are using for this period, and whether they have granted a written extension. If they grant one, the federal text does not let that extension run past six months after the end of the tap sampling period.

The program does not end when the first mailing goes out. You repeat the required public-education activities until the system is at or below the action level. Historically, a system could discontinue delivery after it met the action level during the most recent six-month monitoring period. LCRI text tells systems to repeat until they are at or below the action level. Confirm the stop rule with the state before you cancel a mailing. Community systems also keep a short mandatory statement in each water bill, at least quarterly, while the exceedance lasts.

Wyoming systems confirm the package with EPA Region 8. The District of Columbia and tribal systems confirm with the EPA region that has primacy.

What the materials must say

40 CFR 141.85(a) requires written materials (print or electronic). A phone call or a voice message is not public education unless you also send the written piece. Use the state's template. Some sentences have to appear exactly as written, except for the bracketed system-specific blanks. States may approve changes only if they are more protective. Extra information has to stay consistent with the required topics and in plain language.

The required topics, in the order the rule lists them, are:

• Mandatory health-effects language for lead. Do not rewrite it on the truck.
• Sources of lead in drinking water, including service lines, interior plumbing, and solder, not only "old pipes in general."
• Steps consumers can take (flushing, using cold water for cooking and infant formula, testing, filters certified to reduce lead if they choose one).
• Why levels are elevated and what the system is doing (corrosion control, source change, service-line work, resample schedule).
• Who to contact at the system for more information.
• Information about lead service lines when the system has lead, galvanized-requiring-replacement, or lead-status-unknown lines. The inventory notice is a related but separate duty: LCRI lead service line inventory.
• The remaining mandatory sentences the current 141.85(a) list requires, in that order, including how to get more information from EPA or the state if the template includes that line.

If the primacy agency has determined that you serve a large share of people with limited English proficiency, the materials also owe the language requirements in 141.85(b)(1): importance of the materials in the appropriate language, plus a way to get a translation or help. Put the system name and the PWSID on the first page. If you need the identifier, use PWSID lookup.

Submit a copy of the written materials to the state before you deliver them. 40 CFR 141.90(f) lets the state require approval of the content first. Waiting until after the mailing is how you redo the mailing.

Who gets the materials

Community water systems and non-transient non-community systems have different delivery lists. Both lists are wider than "the houses we sampled."

Community water systems typically must:

• Deliver the printed or electronic materials to bill-paying customers, and take additional steps reasonably calculated to reach persons served who do not get a bill (tenants, schools, businesses).
• Contact the local health department (and any other local public-health agencies the state names) by mail or another method the state accepts, and ask them to pass the information to vulnerable groups.
• Contact organizations the rule or the state template names: schools, licensed child care, Head Start or WIC programs, pediatricians, obstetricians, and similar offices in the service area, so they can pass the materials to pregnant women and children.
• Submit a press release to newspapers, television, and radio that serve the area.
• Post the notice on the system's website when the state or the rule requires it (the longstanding trigger was systems serving more than 100,000 people; ask whether your state now wants every CWS to post).
• Put the short mandatory bill statement on each water bill, no less than quarterly, while the exceedance lasts.
• Do the additional activities from the state's list (public meeting, extra targeted mailing, or another approved method) when the rule or the state requires them.

Non-transient non-community systems (schools, factories, office parks) typically must post informational posters in public or common areas and distribute pamphlets or brochures to each person they serve, inside the same 60-day-from-period-end window. Posting in the mechanical room does not count.

Materials must actually be written. Email can count if it reaches the person. A voicemail cannot replace the written piece. Keep a dated distribution list: who got what, by which method, on which day.

How you certify to the state

Two filings, both under 40 CFR 141.90:

• Before delivery: send the written materials (and get approval if the state requires it).
• Within 10 days after the end of each period in which you were required to perform public education: send the materials you actually delivered, a certification that content met 141.85(a) and delivery met 141.85(b), and a list of newspapers, stations, facilities, and organizations you reached. If the list has not changed and the state does not require a resubmittal, you may certify that you used the same list.

Keep the packet with the lead and copper file. That file is a long keep. See water system record retention. The Consumer Confidence Report can point people to the education materials. It does not replace them. See how to deliver and certify your CCR.

The week the 90th percentile comes in over the action level

• Write the period-end date and count 60 days, then ask the state whether that is the clock they want this period.
• Start the 24-hour Tier 1 public notice the same day. Start the household consumer notices for sampled taps. Neither job is this packet, and neither job waits for this packet.
• Ask the state for the current public-education template and whether they must approve it before mailing.
• Build the organization and media list now. Do not invent contacts the week the mailing is due.
• Deliver, log, and calendar the 10-day certification. Repeat on the schedule the state confirms until you are allowed to stop.

FAQ

Is public education the same as the 24-hour public notice?

No. The 24-hour Tier 1 notice tells people there was an exceedance, on an emergency clock. Public education is the longer 141.85 program: mandatory content, a delivery list, repeat activity, and a separate certification. You owe both after a lead action level exceedance.

Do I still send consumer notices to sampled taps if I am doing public education?

Yes. Consumer notice is site-specific and applies after tap sampling whether or not you exceeded. Public education is the system-wide program after an exceedance. One letter does not cover both unless the state said so in writing and the combined piece meets every element of both rules.

Can I read the materials on the radio and skip the mailing?

No. Public education has to be written (print or electronic). A press release to broadcast stations is one of the CWS delivery tasks. It does not replace delivery to customers and organizations.

When may I stop?

When the primacy agency agrees you have met the action level for the period the current rule uses as the stop test, and you have finished every repeat activity already owed. Ask for that in writing. Do not stop because the first mailing went out, and do not stop because the Tier 1 notice already ran.

Check my system at /find-my-system.

Orevant provides compliance information tools. This page isn't legal advice. Confirm the public-education clock, template, delivery list, and stop rule with your primacy agency.