Is the water in Shoreline safe to drink?

The water safety crisis in Flint, Michigan prompted Tacoma Water to test a few homes in their service area - and they found unsafe levels of lead. Seattle Public Utilities immediately followed Tacoma in advising customers to run the water for several minutes before drinking, while they tested their own system.

Now the results are in. Shoreline is served by North City Water District (east of I-5 and the North Ridge neighborhood west of I-5) and every other area west of I-5 by Seattle Public Utilities.

North City Water District is lead free
From North City Water District

Although North City Water District does get our water from Seattle Public Utilities (SPU), it comes to us via “transmission mains” (large pipes) which do not contain lead. Furthermore, SPU’s water system is not connected to Tacoma’s transmission or distribution water system, where the problem arose.

Transmission mains are a lot like the trunk of a tree, the distribution system (aka “service lines”) are like the branches, which have leaves (aka individual residences) attached to the branch.

North City Water District’s transmission and distribution system / service lines are all lead free.

North City Water serves the eastern side of Shoreline and the west side of Lake Forest Park.


Seattle Public Utilities
From their website

"Tests confirm Seattle’s drinking water safe to drink.

"After two days of extensive testing in five Seattle homes, SPU confirms the city’s water continues to be safe to drink.

"SPU started testing after learning last week that Tacoma Public Utilities had detected high levels of lead in four water samples taken from galvanized steel service lines.

"Learn more about water quality and the type of water line that serves your home by using our map tool."