Lead-Free Water Challenge: What We Learned About Proactive Communications Around Lead Service Line Replacement
By: Mike McGill
President, WaterPIO and LeadCopperRule.com
One year has passed since the launch of the Lead-Free Water Challenge, EPIC’s pilot technical assistance program seeking to boost lead service line replacement programs in six municipalities in partnership with Center for Geospatial Solutions, Blue Conduit, and WaterPIO.
EPIC’s communications partner and President of WaterPIO and LeadCopperRule.com, Mike McGill, spotlights some best practices below, detailing how to effectively communicate to the public on the topic of lead in drinking water, and how to maintain public trust under the new federal regulations around lead in drinking water.
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Last summer, when EPIC asked my firm to assist with their Lead-Free Water Challenge, I quickly accepted for two reasons. The first reason was simple: I knew we could support EPIC’s endeavors of helping small to medium-sized and under-resourced communities in their lead service line replacement efforts. The second reason, in all honesty, was self-serving. By working with EPIC and its team of finance, technology, and policy experts, I knew we would have a front-row seat for the development of best practices that utilities all over the country could put to use for their lead service line replacement work.
Image: Pavan Trikutam, unsplash.com
Informing the public about lead discoveries or exceedances is as sensitive a series of communications as a utility will ever carry out. And the reason is simple: we are still dealing with the aftermath of the Flint water crisis. Water leaders charged with delivering safe, clean drinking water failed a sizable American city primarily because of who the victims were and how little political power they had.
What happened in Flint continues to hang over the water world. Its repercussions were enormous and have been long-lasting. Having handled several lead events across the country, I know that the typical discovery or even EPA action level-exceedance in a water system does not necessarily have parallels to what happened in Flint. But that doesn’t matter. Whenever lead in water is the subject, the first question utilities posed by an excited press and a rightfully concerned public is about Flint. The fifth question is about Flint. The last question is about Flint.
Flint’s aftermath sets water utilities up for failure under the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions enacted in 2021. When I first reviewed the proposed revisions back in 2019, I felt a pit in my stomach. As a long-time water communications professional, it was easy to see several traps set for water providers.
Why am I using such loaded language? Because just as we’re finally able to focus our efforts on getting the lead out of our systems, we could potentially lose customer trust in drinking water. Under the new Lead and Copper Rule, there are major public communication-related challenges to tackle so that we can keep public confidence in our drinking water. And we’re not ready for them. Not by a longshot.
Water providers will find lead in new and numerous ways – that is the point of the new Lead and Copper Rule, after all. However, the rule’s flaws will lead to, by one estimate, a 40 percent jump in systemwide exceedances as we look for lead. Are we ready for the heightened levels of public concern that will take place when discoveries are made and the Action Levels are reached? Probably not.
There is, however, a path to success under the new regulations, and it begins with how our nation’s water utilities handle our lead service line replacement programs. The catch is that it will require the type of transparent and consistent public communications many water utilities are uncomfortable carrying out.
In this instant information age, if water utilities are not providing essential information first to customers and residents, key stakeholders, and the media, they will look elsewhere for their facts. And those facts about water may be fiction. To combat this, providers must establish themselves as the main source of information about lead in drinking water and lead service line replacement, even when people are not clamoring for the education.
Retaining and growing public trust in water during controversial efforts is all a matter of timing. Water utilities can relay the exact same information before uncovering lead service lines in their communities to look transparent and protective of public health. If utilities choose to educate the public about the existence of lead after it is already discovered, they risk appearing as though they are hiding information from the public - or worse, willfully putting the public's health at risk. On the other hand, if they choose to take a proactive approach and inform the public about their lead work during its earliest stages, they will appear transparent and protective of public health.
When discoveries are made or exceedances are reached, questions tying these moments to Flint will dominate the news. This will also serve as the starting point for other compliance actions under the Lead and Copper Rule and make public trust harder to come by throughout the entire effort. This is why one of the best practices for small and medium-size municipalities is to introduce structures and mechanisms for consistent and clear release of information to the public at the start of their lead service line inventory efforts.
This first tangible step involves inter-agency communications, establishing or strengthening information channels with elected officials and community leaders, who need to know about inventory and replacement work before it’s reported in the news media or posted on social media. It is imperative that these key stakeholders stand with utilities as the work is being conducted; partnership, collaboration, and proactive communication with key stakeholders enables that to happen.
After those key players are informed and brought into the project details, information about the work should be placed in a high-profile location on a website, so customers will never be left seeking information from other sources. Creating such a “one-stop-shop” is not as daunting of a task as it may seem; utilities don’t need dozens of pieces of content to get started. It can be as simple as posting past work under the previous Lead and Copper Rule, with room to add information about compliance with the new rule.
One key point to remember as providers craft their web content: they should not fall into the trap that their work is done because it lives online. Everything utilities put online should be publicly released and repeated across their social media platforms.
Providers must lead the conversations taking place about their work in online and social media settings. The vast majority of people searching for information online just want to be assured that they and their families are going to be okay. If utilities leave their customers without information, the customers will be forced to turn elsewhere for their news, and public trust may be negatively impacted.
Lead service line inventory work is a perfect place to get started with a proactive approach to public communications, even for providers who are stepping out on a sensitive subject for the first time. During our work with clients and municipalities as part of the Lead-Free Water Challenge, we have discovered several milestones for public and media outreach which naturally occur over the protracted process. Utilities don’t have to force their Lead and Copper Rule public communications.
Milestones for communications work include, but are not limited, to:
Producing lead service line inventory and/or replacement demonstrations is a top way to help the press, utility customers, and key stakeholders in the community gain an understanding of the work to get the lead out. The events, where possible, should include environmental justice or other vulnerable areas (e.g. lead burdened populations, households with affordability concerns, or areas with greater lead poisoning).
Inviting elected officials and community leaders to take part in milestone events also helps establish a united front on solving the lead issue. Setting up such moments supplies the press with positive messaging and handles negative questions from a utility’s point-of-view first. Not only can utilities set expectations about their work from the very start, but utilities will also show that they are willing to go the extra mile to be transparent and encourage community participation. An added bonus? Utilities can use the press coverage to highlight their work every chance they get with every audience they approach.
These public communication efforts also serve to temper the reaction to the inevitable discoveries of lead service lines. If the proactive communications work has been carried out, providers will be in a stronger position to succeed during these most sensitive moments. After all, utility communication with affected customers will be seen as connected to its early transparency, and the press won't be surprised by the news.
Lead service line inventory work is just the first step to compliance with federal regulations on lead that will create operational and public information challenges. Among them are:
If we get out front now with proactive communication as we start Lead Copper Rule compliance and lead service line replacement efforts - beginning with inventory and mapping efforts - water utilities will be well on the way toward carving out pathways for success that retain and even strengthen public confidence as we work to find and remove lead from our systems.
Communities like Newark - which just replaced all 23,000 lead lines in three years - have proven that municipalities can get the job done, even during their toughest moments and when all the attention is on them. It’s time for water providers across the country to get out front and become the “go-to” source for public information so they too will be able to succeed under the new Lead and Copper Rule and get the lead out in this country over the coming decade.
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The Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) would like to thank Mike McGill and the outstanding teams at WaterPIO/LeadCopperRule.com for their collaboration on the Lead-Free Water Challenge and their partnership on the broader goal of replacing toxic lead pipes faster, more efficiently, and equitably across the country.