Electro Scan Inc. Estimates 20 Million Lead Water Lines and Galvanized Pipes Requiring Replacement in the U.S.

Signs Exclusive Services Agreement with Crown Electrokinetics Corp. and its wholly-owned division Element 82, to Conduct Lead Detection Surveys.

SACRAMENTO, CA, UNITED STATES, January 20, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Electro Scan Inc. announced today that it now estimates the U.S. water industry has over 20 million lead water service lines and galvanized pipes requiring replacement.

Electro Scan Inc., a leading provider of machine-intelligent technologies that locates buried lead water pipes and assesses the condition of water & sewer pipes, based its estimate on over 10,000 field investigations using its award-winning SWORDFISH technology.

The company's estimate is double the official estimate by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) of 9.2 million lead pipes which was based on responses from 3,526 U.S. water systems.

Published in April 2023, the USEPA's 7th Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey estimate for lead service lines was limited to a small sample of U.S. water systems reporting utility-owned water services only, i.e. not including customer-owned or water services located on private property.

"Our work confirms recent statements published by the American Water Works Association (AWWA) that federal funding may not be sufficient to replace all lead water service lines between now and 2037," states Chuck Hansen, Chairman & Founder, Electro Scan Inc.

"Based on the use of SWORDFISH lead detection tools, water utilities are now able to definitively report to ratepayers the status of their underground water pipes," continues Hansen.

There are currently over 50,000 community water systems in the U.S. serving 25 or more water customers and are mandated to comply with the newly enacted Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI) legislation enacted in October 2024.

Electro Scan SWORDFISH field surveys were conducted over the last two years using the company's patented electrical resistance testing technology that automatically evaluates water service line pipe materials, including copper, galvanized, plastic, and lead pipes.

Galvanized pipes identified by electrical resistance testing that also test positive for lead are categorized as galvanized requiring replacement or GRR pipes.

Why does this matter? Lead in drinking water is dangerous. Even small amounts can cause serious health problems. Replacing these pipes isn’t just a to-do item; it’s an urgent issue that affects public safety and health across the country.

In December 2024, the USEPA named 'electrical resistance testing' as the only commercially available innovative solution that could accurately and precisely detect buried lead pipes.

To help satisfy the growing demand for SWORDFISH services, the company has entered into an agreement with Crown Electrokinetics Corp (NASDAQ: CRKN) appointing Crown its exclusive Authorized Service Provider (ASP) in 48 states.

The Company continues to work with its long-time partner, M.E. Simpson & Co., Inc., in the states of Indiana and Illinois.

"Our partnership with Crown & Element 82 is a major step forward to provide nationwide services to help water systems accurately identify lead pipes, and where possible certify systems as lead-free," stated Mike App, Executive Vice President.

These partnerships will help more cities and towns get access to the technology, speeding up the process of identifying lead pipes and certifying areas as lead-free.

"Already working with Element 82 in over a dozen water systems, field crews have mastered the use of electrical resistance testing to accurately assess pipe materials, including both basement entries and curb side meter box entries," continued App.

This week, Electro Scan Inc. also announced the introduction of its SWORDFISH Flow Express product.

Designed to assess customer-owned water service lines without digging, the new product uses flow from the water main to travel longer distances, enter meter settings placed deeper than usual, and navigate smaller diameter pipes that may have corrosion or silt in the bottom of the pipe.

"Electro Scan has successfully navigated over 100 different types of water service configurations by removing the water meter to enter the service line," states Matt Campos, VP Product Development. "Whether evaluating buried water pipes in large or small communities, the SWORDFISH Flow Express was developed to survey pipes with the most difficult pipe configurations."

The SWORDFISH Flow Express underwent extensive field testing over the last six months.

Field testing has ranged from large cities, like Washington D.C., to smaller communities, like North Kootenai Water and Sewer District in Rathdrum, Idaho.

In October 2024, all 50,000 U.S. water systems were required to submit preliminary inventory results to state officials, reporting the status of their results to homeowners 30-days later.

Today, Electro Scan's SWORDFISH solution suite, including its software-as-a-service (SaaS) cloud reporting component, satisfies four (4) important requirements for the USEPA's LCRI, including:
• Investigating UNKNOWN pipe materials for both utility-owned and privately-owned water services.
• Validating KNOWN pipe materials stored in digital desktop systems, paper-based maps, and tap cards.
• Responding to Customer requests to verify pipe materials, that must occur within 30-days of request.
• Confirming lead pipes prior to their remediation; eliminating the risk of removing non-leaded pipes.

"Access to clean drinking water is a human right; however water equity has not been met with lead water pipes disproportionately impacting disadvantaged communities," states Nicole Salazar, independent consultant to Electro Scan specializing in sustainability. "In stark contrast to predictive models, Electro Scan's approach to providing unambiguous and unbiased test results ensures customers with the highest need are first in line."

Electro Scan's estimate of 20 million lead and galvanized pipes requiring replacement may be too low.

Some states allowed water systems to limit inventories to visual inspection of meter boxes and outdoor water faucets, without inspecting below ground pipes. As a result, initial inventories may have under estimated the number of lead pipes that may need to be replaced.

ABOUT ELECTRO SCAN INC.
Founded in 2011, Electro Scan is an international supplier of machine-intelligent pipeline assessment and quality assurance products & services for the water, sewer, and oil & gas markets. The company develops and markets proprietary equipment and SaaS-based cloud applications that automatically locates, measures, and reports pipeline leaks and water service line pipe materials, including lead pipes. The company's products and services detect buried lead water services, typically not found by legacy inspection methods.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

EPA's Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (2021)
https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/revised-lead-and-copper-rule

EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (2024)
https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/lead-and-copper-rule-improvements

EPA’s Sample Letter Notifications.
https://bit.ly/EPA_Letter_Template

Electro Scan’s SWORDFISH
https://www.electroscan.com/contact-us/

Electro Scan Lead Webinar, November 12, 2024, Slide Stack (11mb)
https://www.electroscan.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/2024-11-12_Electro-Scan-LCRI-Webinar_AS-PRESENTED.pdf

Electro Scan Interview on Fox 40, Studi40 Live, YouTube Video (Duration: 5 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quumUwyFlyM

Janine Mullinix
Electro Scan Inc.
+1 916-779-0660
email us here
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