The pipe that carries water from the street into a house is buried, so a showing never reveals what it is made of. But since 2024 your water utility has had to keep a public record of it, address by address, and you can usually check it before you make an offer.
The record your water utility keeps
Federal drinking water rules require every water system to build a service line inventory that records the material and location of each line connected to its pipes, and to submit the first version to its state by October 16, 2024 (40 CFR 141.84). Three details make it useful to a buyer:
- It covers the whole line. Where the utility owns the part under the street and the homeowner owns the part under the yard, the inventory includes both.
- It is organized by street address, or by another location marker where a line has no address.
- It must be public. Systems serving more than 50,000 people must put it online. A smaller system still has to make it available, so ask for it if you cannot find it on their website.
The inventory covers the service line only, the pipe between the water main and the house. It says nothing about the plumbing inside, and EPA notes that lead can also be found in other plumbing materials and faucets.
How to look the address up
- Find out who supplies the water. The seller's water bill names the utility, and so do the listing agent and the town or city website. A house on a private well is not on a utility's inventory; skip to the pipe check below.
- Search for that utility's service line inventory, often published as a map or address search. DC Water, for example, publishes its Service Line Inventory Map, where you can look up a property.
- Read the label for the address, then check the pipe itself if you can (see below).
What the four labels mean
Every line in the inventory carries one of four labels (40 CFR 141.84 and the definitions in 40 CFR 141.2):
- Lead. The line, or part of it, is lead.
- Galvanized requiring replacement. A galvanized steel line that is, or ever was, downstream of a lead line, or is downstream of a line whose material is unknown. The rules treat it as needing replacement even though it is not lead itself. If the utility cannot show the galvanized line was never downstream of lead, it gets this label.
- Lead status unknown. No one has confirmed the material yet. This is a gap in the record, not a finding of lead, but it is also not a clean answer.
- Non-lead. The material has been identified as something other than lead.
An "unknown" is the label that most rewards a little more effort. Ask the utility how it plans to confirm the line, and check the pipe where it enters the house.
Checking the pipe yourself on a viewing
EPA's own guide, Protect Your Tap, walks through a check that needs only a key or coin and a magnet:
- Find the water meter. Indoors it is often in the basement, crawlspace or garage; outdoors it may be near the house, by the sidewalk or in the yard.
- Find where the line enters the house. If the meter is outside, the line usually comes in closest to it; if it is inside, the line is near it on the same wall. Otherwise look along the exterior wall facing the street. You should see a valve on it.
- Gently scratch the pipe near where it comes through the wall or floor. Orange or pale orange is copper. If it is gray, try the magnet: hard to scratch with a magnet that sticks suggests galvanized steel; soft to scratch with a magnet that does not stick suggests lead.
Plastic pipe, in white, blue, black or another color, is not lead. If you find gray plastic, it is worth knowing how to tell whether it is polybutylene.
Do this with the seller's permission, or ask your home inspector to look at the line where it enters. Remember what this check can and cannot tell you: it shows the pipe at the wall, not the length buried under the yard and street. That is why the utility's record matters.
Does the age of the house tell you?
Partly. Federal law has barred lead pipe in new plumbing and repairs since June 19, 1986 (42 U.S.C. 300g-6), so a house built well after that is unlikely to have a lead service line. For older homes the build year only tells you it is possible. The record and the pipe tell you what is actually there.
Can you buy or sell a house with a lead service line?
Yes. Nothing in the federal rules stops the sale. Two points are worth knowing:
- The federal lead disclosure you sign for a pre-1978 home is about paint. That rule (40 CFR Part 745, Subpart F) covers lead-based paint and its hazards, not water pipes. Whether a seller has to mention the service line depends on your state's disclosure rules, so read the form and ask directly.
- The utility may already have written to the owner. Water systems with lead, galvanized-requiring-replacement or unknown lines in their inventory must notify the people served by those lines (40 CFR 141.85(e)). Ask the seller whether they have received one, and for a copy.
If the line is lead or unknown
You do not have to settle the whole question before buying, but you should know which way it is heading:
- Ask the utility about replacement. Under the federal rule as currently written, water systems must replace lead and galvanized-requiring-replacement lines at an average of at least 10 percent a year, on a schedule that begins November 1, 2027 (40 CFR 141.80 and 141.84). Ask whether this line is scheduled, what part of the work the utility covers, and whether there is a program for the owner's side. EPA notes that some states and utilities offer programs to pay for water testing or replacement.
- Test the water. EPA's advice is to have the water tested to find out for certain whether there is lead in it, and its guide lists how to find a certified lab.
- Get a plumber's quote for the owner's side if the utility will not cover it, so you know the number while you can still negotiate.
What to ask before you offer
- The seller: whether the utility has sent a notice about the service line, and any records of a replacement.
- The utility: what its inventory says for this address, how it was determined, and whether a replacement is planned.
- Your inspector: to look at the line where it enters the house and note the material in the report.