Lewes BPW clarifies elevated lead levels in drinking water samples
The Lewes Board of Public Works is clarifying the results of drinking water testing that found elevated lead levels in two samples in September.
The samples came from a testing station behind a shopping center on East Savannah Road and from a home on Clayton Avenue. They were tested by an outside lab.
BPW President Tom Panetta described the levels as slightly elevated.
Eight additional samples taken at the same time did not exceed action levels, according to a BPW press release Jan. 20.
Panetta said BPW has not told anyone to stop drinking the water in Lewes and that he is drinking the water himself.
He said the city’s aging infrastructure is to blame.
“Lewes is an old city,” he said. “They stopped installing lead pipes completely in the early 1970s, including the use of lead solder.”
BPW spelled out what it is doing in the wake of the testing:
• Initiated additional testing throughout the service area and will continue enhanced monitoring
• Working to complete comprehensive inventory of utility-owned and customer-owned service line materials
• Once the inventory is complete, BPW will develop a long-term replacement plan for all identified lead and galvanized service lines on the utility side. BPW will notify homeowners of the materials servicing their properties.
Panetta said BPW has requested funding from the Delaware Office of Safe Drinking Water to pay for the service-line inventory.
“BPW remains committed to providing safe, reliable drinking water and to maintaining transparency with its customers,” the news release said.
For more information or questions, contact the BPW at 302-645-6228.
Bill Shull has been covering Lewes for the Cape Gazette since 2023. He comes to the world of print journalism after 40 years in TV news. Bill has worked in his hometown of Philadelphia, as well as Atlanta and Washington, D.C. He came to Lewes in 2014 to help launch WRDE-TV. Bill served as WRDE’s news director for more than eight years, working in Lewes and Milton. He is a 1986 graduate of Penn State University. Bill is an avid aviation and wildlife photographer, and a big Penn State football, Eagles, Phillies and PGA Tour golf fan. Bill, his wife Jill and their rescue cat, Lucky, live in Rehoboth Beach.
