LACY LAKEVIEW, Texas (KXXV) — The City of Lacy Lakeview received two violations from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).
- The first violation happened in the third quarter of 2023 when three pieces of information were left off a report that was sent to the TCEQ. The city corrected it and came out of violation in April 2024.
- The second violation was on the lead and copper rule, which means the city did not properly test for certain contaminants in our neighbor's homes since 2022.
- The city will soon be sending out sample bottles to collect all the information and send it to the TCEQ before June 30.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
“There is absolutely no harm to our drinking water whatsoever,” Lacy Lakeview's city manager, Calvin Hodde, said.
Hodde told 25 News despite receiving two violations from the TCEQ, the water in our community has always been safe to drink.
The first violation Hodde said happened in the third quarter of 2023 when three pieces of information were left off a report that was sent to the TCEQ. The city corrected that and came out of violation in April 2024.
The second violation was on the lead and copper rule, which means the city did not properly test for certain contaminants in our neighbor's homes.
"It's required to be reported on every three years and that was not done in 2022," Hodde said.
Hodde told 25 News that starting next week, the city will be sending out sample bottles to collect all the information and send it to the TCEQ before June 30 and then again six months later before December 31.
"The lead and copper rule really pertains to the resident's system," Hodde said. "Once it leaves our meter and it goes into their yard line and then the plumbing pipes inside their house, so what we're testing is the water that's inside their pipes."
Lacy Lakeview purchases its water from Waco and is monitored monthly at seven different locations throughout the city.
"Once we take those samples from those seven locations, it's sent to an independent lab and then that information is sent to TCEQ," Hodde said.
25 News reached out to the TCEQ to get more information on the violations and they sent a statement:
Public water systems (PWS) are required to properly disinfect water before distribution and maintain acceptable disinfection residuals within the distribution system to kill microbes that can cause acute diarrhea, nausea, or other life-threatening illnesses. When chlorine and ammonia are added to the water to form monochloramine, as at Lacy-Lakeview, the minimum level of total chlorine (chloramines) required in distribution is 0.5 mg/L. All community and non-transient non-community PWS that use only purchased water or groundwater must regularly monitor and record the level of disinfectant in the distribution system and use the Disinfectant Level Quarterly Operating Report (DLQOR) to report this information to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) every quarter.
On December 14, 2023, the City of Lacy Lakeview received a monitoring and reporting violation for failure to submit the DLQOR for third quarter (July – September) 2023 to TCEQ. This violation was returned to compliance when the fourth quarter (October – December) 2023 DLQOR was submitted to TCEQ on time.
Under the Safe Drinking Water Act [epa.gov] (SDWA) and the Public Notification [epa.gov] (PN) rule, a PWS must provide public notification to their customers when they receive a violation of a drinking water standard. The rule ensures that consumers will know if there is a problem with their drinking water. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets requirements on the form, manner, content, and frequency of these public notices. The due date that public water systems must provide public notification of the violation to customers is determined by the severity of the violation.
Public notification for monitoring and reporting violations is due one year from when the violation has been determined. The City of Lacy Lakeview received a public notification violation for failure to provide notification of the third quarter 2023 to customers by the December 14, 2024, deadline. This public notice violation returned to compliance when public notification was provided to customers on February 5, 2025, and a copy of the notice was provided to TCEQ on February 10, 2025.
As of February 14, 2025, the City of Lacy Lakeview currently has no unresolved violations and is in compliance with the primary drinking water standards [epa.gov] established by the EPA.
Customers can stay up to date on their public water system by using Texas Drinking Water Watch: http://dww2.tceq.texas.gov/DWW/ [dww2.tceq.texas.gov]. Drinking Water Watch is a live database that contains information about the quality of your drinking water, including all analytical results, and your public water system's compliance with state regulations.
