We all know how important water is for human life. Bodies are made up of 60% water.

So in many ways, society could not function without proper water infrastructure. What would life be like if we didn't have it?

The Onondaga County Water Authority wants more people to ask these questions.

On National Imagine a Day Without Water Day, the County Water Authority raised awareness of how big a role water infrastructure plays in life. Could we do without it?

“It would be very challenging," said Jeff Brown, the executive director of OCWA. "You think about the everyday things that we take for granted. You know, having drinking water when we wake up, our coffee, our beverages, showering."

Having access to water is invaluable, meaning a strong water infrastructure is vital.

“Investing and making sure that the system is sustainable and reliable for the long term is absolutely critical," he said.

According to the World Health Organization, almost 1 million people die every year due to lead poisoning. While a strong infrasturcture helps, it's hard to escape bad water if your service line isn’t taken care of where you live.

On Thursday, OCWA announced its Lead Service Line Identification Program, calling on people to check their water service lines where they live.

“We need to get the lead out, right? We first need to find out who has lead services in our system," Brown said. "That’s the very first and basic step. If we don’t know that you have lead, we can’t help you moving forward."

This program is in conjunction with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s revised Lead and Copper Rule. But how do you check for lead?

“You look at the pipes where it's coming in, in your basement," he said. "You identify it through a very simple scratch test to see what it's made of. You can also use a magnet.”

You can scratch the pipe with a coin or screwdriver. According to OCWA, if the scraped area is shiny silver and flakes easily, then it's probably made of lead. With this program, they hope more people are thinking about the importance of clean water.

“We just hope people take away that, although it's a little out of sight and out of mind. Water infrastructure and what we do to protect people is really, really important," Brown said.

The EPA’s Lead and Copper rule requires public water systems nationwide to create a service line inventory by Oct. 16, 2024.