The city of Birmingham on Monday issued an advisory after water at five out of 32 homes tested for lead showed levels that exceed newly implemented state standards.

The announcement came just hours before Oakland County said it was not only helping Birmingham but also White Lake Township after water samples in that community also exceeded acceptable lead levels.

Both communities are urging residents to take precautions and are giving out free filters to lower-income residents who meet certain guidelines. Filters will be given out Tuesday in Birmingham and Thursday in White Lake Township.

"The quality of our drinking water is paramount and we stand ready to support our local communities with these and future test results," Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter said in a release Monday night.

The homes tested in Birmingham all have lead service lines, the city said. About 550 houses in the city have lead service lines, the lines connecting city water mains to the home.

“As a proactive measure, the city is alerting all of its water customers, whether their house has lead service pipes or not, on practical steps they can take to reduce the risk to lead exposure, particularly for those whose houses have lead service pipes," City Manager Joe Valentine said in a news release.

He said while the level is not a "health-based standard nor a violation of the Michigan Safe Drinking Water Act," the city wants the public to be aware of the changes in state standards, the city's results and what it means.

"The intent is not to scare the public, but let them know the city is proactively working to test and address known lead service leads in the city and work with property owners who want to improve water quality in their homes," he said.

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The Michigan Safe Drinking Water Act was changed last year to include more stringent procedures for testing and analysis for lead and copper, according to the city. The new regulations, it said, require a more proactive approach in monitoring each community's lead and copper levels.

The city of Birmingham has close to 9,000 water customers, including about 550 houses with lead service lines. Older service lines were made of lead, Valentine told the Free Press in an email.

Since 1992, the city said, it has regularly tested for lead and copper. In that time, the city's testing results never exceeded the state standards, according to the city release.

The state now requires cities whose testing exceeds the new standard to provide a public education campaign advising homeowners of actions they can take to mitigate any lead that may come from their pipes, it states.

"As a result of these changes, Birmingham and other Michigan cities expected that exclusively testing homes with lead service pipes would have lead levels that now exceed new state standards," the city release states.

In September, the city tested 32 of the 550 residential houses with lead service pipes. Of these 32 houses, five — or about 16% of those tested — showed levels above the new state standard. The new state standard, the city stated, is 15 ppb (parts per billion). The testing results in a rating of 17 ppb.

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What does this mean for the other 500-some residential sites that were not tested?

Valentine told the Free Press that the advisory is to raise awareness so the public "can take actions to mitigate any lead that may come from the elements of the water system on private property." He reiterated it's not a health-based standard, rather a standard to promote awareness about the existence of known lead results in the city.

Valentine said it is unknown how many of the remaining homes with lead service lines exceed the new state standards, adding that testing will be ongoing in accordance with the new regulations.

"These regulations require that by the end of December 2019 each community must have a complete inventory of all known homes with lead service pipes within (its) jurisdiction documented," he said. "Then, by the end of next year, each community must have a plan to address a minimum of 7% of this list corrected on an annual basis going forward."

In White Lake Township, no lead service lines or goosenecks are known to exist in the township's water system. No lead has been detected in any source water wells in the township, according to an advisory on the township's website.

Homes that were selected for sampling were built before 1988 and have copper plumbing with lead solder, the township advisory states.

It states that White Lake Township collected samples from 30 locations in its two distribution systems. Three samples out of 20 collected in its southernmost district had results for lead over the acceptable level.

In the township's advisory — which was posted on its Facebook page Friday — it said the state evaluated compliance with the action levels based on the 90th percentile of all lead and copper results collected in each round of sampling. The lead 90th percentile for the township's water supply in that distribution area was 21 ppb.

The city of Birmingham started a page on its website at www.bhamgov.org/leadtesting with information, such as steps to do home tests.

White Lake Township stated it would increase monitoring in its southern distribution system, and a copy of the public advisory was sent out in all its water bills.

“I’m pleased the State has taken a more aggressive posture with testing and reporting lead and copper in our communities as we all work to ensure our residents have confidence in the water coming out of their taps,” Birmingham Mayor Patty Bordman said in the city news release.

“In Birmingham, it is important to know the source of our water, and the process used to treat it, have not changed. I would encourage anyone with questions to visit our website for further information," she said.

When asked whether there is a danger to residents, Valentine told the Free Press: "The water source and the treatment procedures are exactly the same as they have been previously. There has been no change in the water source or treatment process that previously existed. The new regulations are intended to raise awareness of the conditions that exist given the enhanced testing that is now required. The new regulations are not a health-based standard."

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The Oakland County Health Division will provide free water filters for residents who meet state-mandated thresholds from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Birmingham city hall, 151 Martin St.

It also will make water filter kits available during a town hall meeting at Lakeland High School, 1630 Bogie Lake Road, in White Lake Township from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday.

To qualify, a household must have at least one of the following: a child under age 18 living there or spending several hours every week at least three months of the year there or a pregnant woman living there. And, a household must have at least one of the following: someone receiving WIC benefits and/or Medicaid insurance or difficulty affording a filter and replacement cartridges.

The city of Birmingham said filters cost about $35 and replacement cartridges cost about $15.

For more information on lead and copper results, go to www.michigan.gov/MILeadSafe.

Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @challreporter.