Export, water authority differ on removal of asbestos-infused waterlines
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Export officials’ issues with the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County are well documented.
Borough council members have chafed as they’ve watched recently paved streets reopened for waterline work. Councilman John Nagoda, in particular, has pushed for the agency to do something about the waterlines in the borough — at least one of which is more than 70 years old — that are made of transite, a form of cement that also contains asbestos.
“We need to get these out of the ground so our water is not flowing through them,” Nagoda said. “I don’t want children in this borough drinking water from lines that contain asbestos.”
MAWC spokesman Matt Junker said, in response to Nagoda’s concerns, authority officials planned this week to test for asbestos again in the borough water supply.
Of the 37,712 feet of water main in Export, 17,761 feet — about 47% — is made of transite, according to the authority. MAWC officials said they don’t believe the lines pose any health risk.
“We test for asbestos, and our last test in the system that serves Export was in 2021,” Junker said. “The results were non-detectable.”
According to the U.S. Safe Water Drinking Act, the maximum contaminant level for asbestos is 7 million fibers per liter. Junker cited U.S. Environmental Protection Agency documents stating “some people who drink water containing asbestos well in excess of the maximum contaminant level for many years may have an increased risk of developing benign intestinal polyps.”
Other EPA documents note the reasoning behind the maximum contaminant level was to “protect against cancer.”
Junker said the results of the April testing should come back in about six weeks.
“As I mentioned, the results from our last test were non-detectable,” he said.
Nagoda was hoping to create a borough ordinance that would force MAWC to replace the transite pipes.
“It’s not going to happen,” borough solicitor Wes Long said. “That’s not something we can address with an ordinance.”
Nagoda said several of the water main breaks in the borough in recent years have been in areas serviced by transite lines.
“When those lines break, you get asbestos fibers in the water system,” he said.
He and Mayor Joe Zaccagnini said they would be attending a future MAWC board meeting to continue advocating for the replacement of the pipes.
“They’ve got to come into the 21st century,” Nagoda said. “Those lines need to go.”
Junker said the authority does not have much information on the age of all the pipes in the system, but one transite main in the borough dates to 1951.
Transite pipes first were installed in the U.S. starting in the early 20th century, with their installation peaking around the 1950s. At the time, the newly created material was touted as being lightweight and having a low coefficient of friction.