Plumbing That Can Contribute Lead to Water

Lead Service Lines

If your home was built before 1950, you may have either a service line made of lead, or pipes inside your home made of lead, or both. A service line is the pipe connecting your water meter to the city water main pipe near the street. Service lines belong to the property owner. For homes with lead service lines, the service line typically contributes the greatest percentage of lead to the tap water.

What you can do

1. Determine if you have a lead service line or lead pipes inside your home.
2. Take steps to reduce your risk of exposure to lead in water.
3. Replace your lead service line and any lead pipes inside your home.

Galvanized Service Lines and Pipes

Before 1960, galvanized pipes were often used in homes. Galvanized steel pipes were made with a small amount of lead in their zinc coating. This zinc coating can be a source of lead, but galvanized pipes can release more lead if your home or business has, or had, a lead service line. If water flows through a lead pipe before moving through galvanized pipes, the water can transfer the lead from the lead pipe to the galvanized pipes. This process adds lead to the corroded inside walls of the galvanized pipes. When pieces of the corrosion scale break loose from the galvanized pipes, lead is released into the water in varying amounts. Even after a lead service line is replaced, the corrosion scale inside of galvanized pipes can still be a source of lead.

Lead can attach to the corroded inside walls of a galvanized pipe if the water moves through a lead pipe before moving through the galvanized pipe. Lead can get into the water when pieces of the corrosion scale break loose, even after the lead service line is removed.

What you can do

1. Determine if you have galvanized pipes and if you have or had a lead service line.
2. Take steps to reduce your risk of exposure to lead in water.
3. Replace your service line if it is made of lead.
4. Replace your galvanized pipes. If complete removal is not possible, consider replacing the pipes that run to your faucets used for drinking and cooking, such as the kitchen and bathrooms.

Information is available to help determine if you have (or had) a lead service line and to determine what metal your household pipes are made of.

Older Brass Faucets, Fixtures and Fittings

Almost all faucets, fixtures, and fittings have brass components. The ban on “high‐lead” plumbing materials did not apply to plumbing fittings, fixtures, and faucets until 1998. In 2014, the amount of lead allowed in these plumbing components was further reduced, from 8 percent to 0.25 percent. Faucets made in 2014 or later are considered lead‐free by today’s tougher standards.

The ban on “high‐lead” plumbing materials did not apply to plumbing fittings, fixtures, and faucets until 1998.

What you can do

1. Do not drink or cook with water that has been sitting for more than a few hours in older brass plumbing. Let the cold water run to bring in fresh water.
2. Replace older brass faucets, fittings, and fixtures with new “lead‐free” models manufactured in 2014 or later.

Lead Solder

Solder connects pipes in household plumbing. In Nebraska, lead solder was used in household plumbing until 1988. For homes with copper pipes and lead solder, the good news is that lead solder’s ability to add lead to water decreases over time. This is because minerals in the water, like calcium, form a coating on the inside of the pipes. This mineral layer protects the water from the lead in the solder. However, improper electrical grounding or mismatched metals could cause corrosion and lead release and should be fixed.

Clear out any water that has been sitting for more than a few hours in pipes with lead solder.

What you can do

Flush out any water that has been sitting for more than a few hours in pipes with lead solder to bring in fresh water for drinking and cooking.