City officials launched a study in 2020 to see whether ultrasonic meters would not disturb anti-corrosion coating in lead pipes to the same extent traditional meters did, Cheng said. Ultrasonic meters have no moving parts, unlike traditional meters, Cheng said.
“The amount of water usage and flushing that people do in their homes is critically important to lead levels,” Cheng said. The city plans to set up a system to notify residents with a meter if their water has not been used for six hours and remind them to flush the system before drinking or bathing, Cheng said. The city already notifies those whose home may be the site of a water leak or burst pipe, she added.“We’re really happy to find some resolution here and move the program forward,” Cheng said.
“The upshot of it all is that we need to worry less about the meter installation itself and the flushing that we’re doing right after,” Cheng said. “Really, what we are seeing is that the important issue we need to be talking about here is flushing and water usage in the home overall. That is going to be a much bigger driver of lead levels than meter installation or disturbances.
Data gathered as part of a study of 510 Chicago homes in 2019 found that 22% of residences with new water meters had elevated levels of lead, the mayor’s office announced. Of those homes, 7.1% had lead levels above the 15 parts per billion action level set by the EPA, officials said.