The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has handed down a new Lead and Copper Rule that every city must abide by.
It comes after the discovery of lead in water service lines in Flint, Michigan, a city that has become infamous for its year-long battles with tainted water.
Both Midland, Texas and Odessa, Texas, have been working diligently to ensure their city's water is safe.
The City of Odessa is currently taking inventory on their water service lines.
"I can verify that the water that they're being provided to in their home is completely safe," said Kevin Niles, director of utilities for the City of Odessa. "It's completely reliable, it's safe to drink, it meets all of TCEQ requirements."
Odessa has 44,516 water connections. As of Tuesday morning, 14,576 (30%) of them were deemed safe and 30,000 still needed to be tested.
Homes built before the 1980s had a higher chance of lead contamination, so those are the target of these checks.
Over the past 18 months, the City of Midland has checked their inventory as well.
"The City of Midland went and we checked 5,000 houses," said Carl Craigo, utilities officer for the City of Midland. "Luckily, out of those 5,000, we didn't find any lead in our system."
When the city goes and checks a home, they are specifically looking at the service line.
"So, from the meter that the water comes in from the city system to the meter to the building, that's called the service line," Craigo explained. "So, most service lines in cities are steel or PVC or plastic. But before the 1980s there was a chance that that service line could have been lead."
Lead is dangerous to consume, and it can have a more lasting affect on children. That's why ensuring safe drinking water is everyone's priority.
"Clean, safe drinking water is paramount for a city to run," Craigo said. "It's a process. You got to use it to cook. You need it for your pets and you need it for your person. So, ensuring that water is perfectly safe to use and consume is what the cities here for."
This is not an issue only the city can catch. Homeowners have a part to play as well.
"Something a citizen or a customer may want to check out is a lot of overseas, say, China, India," Craigo said. "A lot of their faucets that you have in your bathroom or your kitchen still have solder in them that has lead, which our water will leak that lead overtime out of those faucets."
So, when shopping for water appliances, it may be better to buy American.
Both Midland and Odessa will continue to update their residents on the status of the water and any new regulations from the EPA.
Click here to see the live lead service line dashboard and map for Odessa.