Water district officials in Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties said they are not seeing dangerous lead levels, even though a USA Today study published Thursday indicates older housing stock in New England, New York and Pennsylvania is at highest risk of excessive lead contamination. 

The USA Today report said the contamination is largely because newer chloramine treatments — rather than traditional chlorine — are stripping lead from public water system connector pipes and carrying it into homes.

According to the report, lead levels exceeding the Environmental Protection Agency standards have been found in the water supply of some 6 million Americans, including water supplied to schools and day care centers.

A water sample taken at an elementary school in Maine contained 42 times the federal recommended levels of 15 parts per billion. The study did not identify that school.

Water tested at a mobile home park in Corinna was found to have unsafe levels of lead in the drinking water — more than 10 percent above acceptable levels — which the property manager blamed on lead-soldered copper pipe found in one old trailer, according to the USA Today report.

Last week, Auburn Water District Superintendent Sid Hazelton said the Twin Cities are going to take a second look — following an extensive review last year — to see what the district and its customers can do to cut back on water pipe corrosion.

The problems are most severe in homes built before 1980, which is more than half of the nation’s housing, according to USA Today, and federal regulations that require testing for lead are not stringent enough to measure the full scope of the problem so people are often unaware of the danger.

Water districts, such as those in Livermore Falls, Farmington, Paris, Wilton and Rumford that still use chlorine to treat drinking water are not seeing abnormally high lead levels.

According to a spokesperson for the Farmington Village Corp., the water is regularly tested for lead and there has been no contamination reported.

In Rumford, Water District Superintendent Brian Gagnon said, “There are no lead service pipes, like what they had in Flint. There’s none of that.”

He said that “way back, there might have been what they used to call ‘lead goosenecks’ coming off from the main, and then the copper would attach to that. But over time, when they would be doing something on the street, or redoing reconstruction, all of those have been taken out of the system, if there were any in there, anyway.

“All of our service pipes in Rumford, going from the main to the curb, are mostly copper,” Gagnon said.

He did add that there are some people who have plastic lines going into their homes.

“It’s the district’s responsibility from the main to the curb,” he said. “When you’re out walking in the downtown, you see the round things with the nut in the middle. That’s the water shut-off. Everybody has a curb stop in front of their house. It’s on the property line, on the right of way. From there to the property is the homeowner’s responsibility.”

Paris Utility District Manager Penny Lowe said the water district doesn’t use chloramine, and uses chlorine “very minimally.”

The district tests for lead and copper every three years.

“We just did it this year and passed,” Lowe said.

From 2011 through 2013, the PUD’s lead levels were measured at 3 parts per billion, well below acceptable levels. The numbers for tests run from 2014 to date will be available in a couple of weeks, Lowe said.

In Norway, the public water system runs to 800 locations, serving about 2,000 people, according to Water District Superintendent Ryan Lippincott.

“We have no lead or copper issues,” he said, because although Norway has a lot of old pipes, none are lead.

Even though there are no issues with lead in the district’s system, Lippincott said there can be some issues with lead plumbing in individual buildings, where pipes may be corroded.

Livermore Falls Water District Superintendent Doug Burdo said the town treats the public drinking supply with 0.02 parts per million chlorine, and the district issues an annual consumer confidence report with results of water testing. In addition, monthly bacteriological tests are done to ensure there are no problems with the water, he said.

According to the USA Today report, the federal government requires public water districts to test as few as 10 water taps each year, which is not adequate to measure the scope of the lead problem.

According to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, drinking water is usually not contaminated at the source, but becomes contaminated as it moves through pre-1930 service lines and into private homes, where older fixtures often contain lead.

Marc Edwards, a Virginia Tech environmental engineer professor who has studied water contamination in Flint, Mich., and Washington, D.C., told USA Today that the greatest risk is faced by homeowners who have lead pipes carrying the public water supply into their homes, with water passing through what he called “a pure lead straw,” picking up contaminants along the way.

The cost to replace the pipes is the property owner’s responsibility, and is often a pricey job.

Lead is a potent poison and a serious health threat to children and pregnant women. Excessive levels can affect IQ in developing children and lead to permanent behavior problems and learning disabilities, according to the EPA.

With the increased public awareness about lead poisoning, prompted by the dangers uncovered in Flint, the EPA sent letters to environmental protection agencies in every state last week, asking them to better test and enforce federal regulations, including the requirement to notify the public about potential dangers revealed through water testing.