Maybe a certified letter from your water company says your service line is lead, galvanized, or unknown. Maybe you just bought an older house and noticed a dull gray pipe coming through the basement wall. Either way, the question is the same: what do lead pipes mean for your water, and what should you do about them?
Lead pipes are most common in the water service line, the buried pipe that brings water from the main in the street into your home. New Jersey law now requires water systems to find and replace every lead service line by 2031. This guide explains how lead gets into tap water, how to tell whether your pipe is lead, what the state law means for you, and what to do in the meantime.
What Are Lead Pipes?
Lead pipes are water pipes made of lead, a soft, heavy metal that plumbers could bend by hand around obstacles. That flexibility made lead a popular choice for the service line, the pipe that runs underground from the water main to the house.
The service line usually has two parts:
- The utility side runs from the main to the curb stop, a shutoff valve near the property line.
- The homeowner side runs from the curb stop, under the yard, and through the foundation to the meter.
Ownership varies by water system, but in New Jersey the line is frequently split between the utility and the property owner. Either side, or both, can be lead. The water main itself usually isn’t the concern. New Jersey American Water, for one, notes that its mains are not made of lead. The risk is the smaller line that branches off the main to each house.
Lead Goosenecks And Pigtails
Some service lines aren’t lead along their length but still have a short lead connector. A gooseneck or pigtail is a flexible lead piece, often a few feet long, that joins the service line to the main. Under New Jersey law, a lead gooseneck, pigtail, or other lead fitting makes the whole connection a lead service line, even if the rest of the pipe is copper or plastic.
How Lead Pipes Affect Your Water
How much lead dissolves depends on several things:
- Water chemistry. More corrosive water pulls more metal from the pipe. Many utilities treat their water so a protective mineral layer forms inside lead pipes. A change in source water or treatment can disturb that layer.
- Time in the pipe. Water that sits for six hours or more picks up more lead than water that is moving.
- Physical disturbance. Digging near the line, a meter replacement, or street work can shake loose lead scale and particles.
- Temperature. Hot water dissolves lead faster than cold, which is why cold water is the rule for drinking and cooking.
You can’t see, smell, or taste lead in water at the levels that matter. Clear, good-tasting water can still contain lead, and only a lab test can tell you.
Do Lead Pipes Rust?
No. Rust is iron oxide, and lead contains no iron. Lead corrodes differently: it forms a dull gray or white scale on the inside wall, and lead from that scale can dissolve or flake into the water. A lead pipe can look sound on the outside for a century while still releasing lead on the inside.
That’s the key difference from galvanized pipes, which rust and narrow until pressure fades. A lead line rarely gives you an obvious symptom at the tap. You usually find it by identifying the pipe, not by noticing a problem.
Is It Safe To Live In A House With Lead Pipes?
Many families live in homes with lead service lines while they wait for replacement, and having one doesn’t mean you have to stop using your water. It does mean you should take a few precautions and plan to replace the line.
The EPA has set its health goal for lead in drinking water at zero, because lead can cause harm even at low exposure. The people most at risk are:
- Infants and young children, whose growing bodies absorb lead more easily. Babies who drink formula mixed with tap water can get 40% to 60% of their lead exposure from water.
- Pregnant women, because lead can pass to the developing baby.
Adults can be affected too, through higher blood pressure and reduced kidney function over time. If you’re concerned about exposure in your household, talk with your doctor about a blood lead test. The steps under What To Do While You Wait, below, reduce exposure in the meantime.
What Do Lead Pipes Look Like?
The best place to check is where the water line comes through the foundation, usually next to the meter in the basement. If your meter is outdoors in a pit, the line usually enters the house at the point nearest the meter.
| Material | Color | Scratch with a key | Magnet | Joints |
| Lead | Dull gray | Soft, scratches easily to shiny silver | Won’t stick | Smooth, bulb-shaped “wiped” joints, no threads |
| Galvanized steel | Dull gray, often rust at fittings | Hard, shows silver-gray | Sticks firmly | Threaded fittings |
| Copper | Reddish brown, sometimes green | Shows bright copper | Won’t stick | Soldered or compression fittings |
| Plastic | White, black, blue, or gray | Soft, no metal | Won’t stick | Glued, crimped, or clamped |
A few tips for checking:
- Scratch lightly. You only need a small mark. Don’t dig into an old pipe or use a file or knife, and wash your hands afterward.
- Look for a bulge. Lead lines were joined with a ball of solder called a wiped joint, which looks like a smooth swelling in the pipe.
- Check both sides of the meter. The pipe on the street side tells you about the service line. The pipe after the meter is your interior plumbing.
- Remember you’re seeing a few inches. The exposed section shows only what enters the house. The utility side under the street can be a different material, which is why water systems keep their own inventory records.
If the scratch and magnet tests leave you unsure, a lead test swab from a hardware store can check the pipe’s surface. It tests the pipe, not the water. A licensed plumber can also identify the material. Once you know, report it to your water system. Many, including New Jersey American Water, have an online form where you can submit a photo of the pipe.
Plastic gray pipe can be polybutylene rather than lead. If it bends slightly and has no metal sheen when scratched, see our guide to polybutylene pipes.
Galvanized Pipes And Lead: Why New Jersey Treats Them The Same
New Jersey counts a galvanized service line as a lead service line, which surprises many homeowners. A galvanized pipe isn’t made of lead, but it can carry lead into your water in two ways. Older zinc coatings can contain traces of lead. And a galvanized line that sits, or ever sat, downstream of a lead pipe or gooseneck can trap lead particles in its rough, rusty inside wall and release them later.
You may see the term “galvanized requiring replacement” in your water system’s inventory. It means a galvanized line that is, or once was, connected downstream of lead or of a line whose material is unknown. Those lines go on the replacement list alongside lead.
Our guide to whether galvanized pipes contain lead covers how that happens and what it means for drinking water from a galvanized system.
When Were Lead Pipes Used?
Lead service lines were common across the country from the late 1800s through the first half of the twentieth century. Many towns stopped installing them well before the federal ban, but practice varied, and some systems kept using lead for service lines and goosenecks into the 1980s.
The key dates:
- 1986. Congress amended the Safe Drinking Water Act to ban lead pipes, solder, and flux in drinking water plumbing. “Lead free” then meant no more than 0.2% lead in solder and flux and no more than 8% in pipes.
- 2014. The Reduction of Lead in Drinking Water Act, passed in 2011, took effect and tightened the limit for pipes, fittings, and fixtures to a weighted average of 0.25% lead on surfaces that touch water.
For New Jersey homeowners, that means:
- Homes built before about 1930 are the most likely to have a lead service line, especially in older cities and inner-ring towns.
- Homes built before 1986 can have lead solder on copper pipe joints, even with no lead service line.
- Newer homes aren’t automatically clear. A postwar house can be connected to an older lead or galvanized line at the street, or to a lead gooseneck at the main.
Where Lead Pipes Are Still Common In New Jersey
Lead service lines turn up all over New Jersey, but they cluster in older cities and the towns built around them before World War II. Most were installed before 1940. Statewide, recent inventories count about 143,000 known lead service lines and more than a million lines of unknown material.
Some communities carry far more than their share:
- Trenton and its suburbs. Trenton Water Works still has about 23,000 lead service lines in service across Trenton, Ewing, Lawrence, and parts of Hamilton, after replacing nearly 30% since 2019.
- Paterson and the Passaic Valley. In 2020, the Passaic Valley Water Commission estimated about 14,000 customer-side lead lines, roughly half in Paterson and the rest in Clifton, Passaic, and Prospect Park.
- Elizabeth. The city is still working through its replacement program, with financing closed in 2026 for another 1,600 lines.
- EPA’s priority list. In 2023, the EPA picked ten New Jersey communities for extra federal help to speed up lead line replacement: Camden, Trenton, New Brunswick, Keansburg, Keyport, Harrison, East Newark, Blackwood, Clementon, and Ventnor.
Newark shows what a fast program looks like. The city replaced about 24,000 lead service lines between 2019 and early 2022, at no cost to residents, after county bond funding shortened an 8-to-10-year plan to under three years.
Most towns aren’t moving that fast. If you live in an older neighborhood anywhere in the state, it’s worth checking your line, whether or not your town makes the news.
Lead Beyond The Service Line
The service line is usually the largest source of lead where one exists. It isn’t the only place lead turns up in an older house.
Lead Solder On Copper Pipes
Copper water lines installed before 1986 were often joined with lead-based solder. The joints look like a dull silver collar where two pieces of copper meet. Lead solder isn’t covered by the state’s service line law, since it sits inside the home. If testing shows lead with no lead service line, interior solder and older fixtures are the next suspects, and replacing the interior supply lines is a repiping job.
Older Brass Faucets And Fittings
Brass and chrome-plated brass faucets, valves, and fittings made before 2014 could legally contain up to 8% lead. Without a lead service line, these and lead solder are the most common sources of lead at the tap.
Lead Drain Pipes And Toilet Flanges
Older homes can have lead on the drain side too. Plumbers used lead closet bends under toilets, lead toilet flanges, and molten lead to seal the hub joints of cast iron drain pipe.
Drain-side lead doesn’t affect your drinking water, because waste water flows away from the house and never returns to the tap. It does wear out. Lead bends crack and develop pinholes, and lead-sealed joints loosen as cast iron corrodes. Those failures show up as leaks below a bathroom or a toilet that won’t stay sealed, and they’re handled as drain repair.
Leaking Lead Pipes
A lead service line can also leak, usually at a wiped joint, a gooseneck, or where the soft pipe has been crushed or kinked by settling soil. Signs include a wet patch in the yard, a meter that moves with every fixture off, or water seeping through the foundation where the line enters. Leak detection finds the source without digging up the yard at random, and a leaking lead line is a strong reason to replace it rather than patch it.
New Jersey’s Lead Service Line Law: What Your Letter Means
In July 2021, New Jersey enacted P.L.2021, c.183, which requires every public community water system to find and replace all lead service lines in its service area by July 2031. Under the law:
- Galvanized lines count as lead, and so do lead goosenecks, pigtails, and other lead fittings.
- Water systems must keep a public inventory of service line materials and update it as lines are identified and replaced.
- Systems must replace an average of at least 10% of known lead service lines each year.
- Owners of properties with known lead or galvanized lines get a notice by certified mail. The notice explains the line’s material, the health effects of lead, and steps to reduce exposure. Off-site owners, such as landlords, get one too.
- Landlords must tell their tenants by posting a hard-copy notice in a conspicuous place.
Water systems have also been sending notices to owners whose service line material is listed as “unknown.” These keep coming annually until the line is identified as non-lead or replaced. Recent inventories identified about 143,000 known lead service lines in New Jersey, but more than a million properties still have service lines of unknown material.
If you got an “unknown” notice, your water system doesn’t have a record of your line’s material. The letter usually asks you to check the pipe at your meter and report it, often through an online portal, or to schedule an inspection. Identifying it removes the uncertainty and stops the annual letters if the line is clear.
Don’t throw these notices away or confuse them with offers for water line protection plans. NJDEP has warned that homeowners mix up official notices with private solicitations. An official notice comes from your water system and refers to your service line inventory.
Who Owns And Pays For The Line
Who pays for replacement depends on your water system:
- Investor-owned utilities can’t bill an individual homeowner for replacement. They spread the cost across all of their ratepayers. New Jersey American Water, for example, replaces its own side and the customer-owned portion of a lead or galvanized line at no direct cost to the homeowner, under a signed agreement. The cost is covered by a small charge on all customers’ water bills.
- Publicly owned utilities, such as municipal water departments, can either pass the cost to individual owners or spread it across ratepayers.
The state isn’t currently offering replacement funding directly to homeowners. Your water system is the place to ask what its inventory shows for your address, which part of the line you own, and how its program works.
Utility programs also run on the utility’s schedule. New Jersey American Water, for example, doesn’t replace lines on request. It plans replacements area by area to keep costs down. If you’d rather not wait, you can hire your own licensed plumber to replace your side, at your own expense and without reimbursement. Either way, you or your plumber need to contact the utility before the work starts.
Why Partial Replacement Is A Problem
Replacing only one side of a lead line leaves lead in the ground, and cutting into the pipe can disturb the remaining section and release lead particles for a period afterward. New Jersey American Water warns that replacing only part of a lead service line can increase lead exposure. Utilities still replace their own side even when an owner declines, which leaves the new pipe connected to the old one at the property line. If you plan to replace your side on your own schedule, contact your water system first so the work can be coordinated with theirs.
What To Do While You Wait For Replacement
The 2031 deadline is years away, and your line may not be scheduled soon. These steps from NJDEP and the EPA reduce exposure in the meantime:
- Use only cold water for drinking, cooking, and mixing baby formula. Hot water dissolves more lead.
- Flush before you drink. After water has sat for six hours or more, run the cold tap for at least 30 seconds, longer for a long service line, until it feels colder.
- Don’t count on boiling. Boiling doesn’t remove lead. It can concentrate it as water evaporates.
- Use a filter certified for lead. Look for a filter certified by NSF International to reduce lead, and replace the cartridge on schedule. Don’t run hot water through it.
- Clean your faucet aerators. Lead particles can collect in the screens.
- Test your water. Your water system or a New Jersey-certified lab can test your tap water for lead.
- Watch for work near the line. After street work, a meter change, or digging in the yard, flush your taps well before drinking.
Do You Have To Wait Until 2031?
No. 2031 is the deadline for your water system, not for you. Utilities replace lines area by area on their own schedule, and many won’t move a line up on request. If your street sits near the end of that schedule, your family could be drinking water through a lead line for five more years.
You have two paths:
- Wait for the utility program. In many systems, including New Jersey American Water and Trenton Water Works, the homeowner’s side is replaced at no direct cost when your turn comes. Use the precautions above in the meantime.
- Replace your side now. You can hire a licensed plumber to replace the line from the curb stop to your house on your own timeline, at your own expense. Utilities generally don’t reimburse this, and you or your plumber must contact the utility before work starts.
Which makes sense depends on how long the wait is and who lives in your home. For many families, especially with an infant, young children, or a pregnant family member, years of filtering and flushing is a reason to act sooner. Ask your water system when its program is scheduled to reach your street, and whether it will replace its side of the line at the same time as yours. Replacing your side while the utility side is still lead leaves a source of lead upstream until the utility finishes its part.
If you’d rather not wait, call Arrow Sewer & Drain at (908) 472-3801. We replace lead and galvanized service lines across New Jersey and coordinate the connection with your water system.
What Lead Service Line Replacement Involves
Replacing a lead service line means installing a new line from the curb stop to the meter, and coordinating with the utility for its side. The job usually runs like this:
- Confirm the material. Check the pipe at the meter and compare it with the utility’s inventory. If the curb side is unknown, a small test hole at the curb stop shows what’s there.
- Coordinate with the water system. Find out whether its program covers your side, when its crews are scheduled, and how the connection at the curb stop will be handled.
- Permits and markouts. Water line work in New Jersey requires a plumbing permit and inspection, and every dig requires a utility markout.
- Install the new line. Depending on the yard, the new line goes in by open trench or by boring a new path underground with small pits at each end. Boring often spares driveways, walkways, and trees.
- Connect and flush. The new line is connected at the curb stop and the meter, then flushed to clear any particles stirred up during the work.
A lead service line replacement is a water line repair job, and it’s often a good moment to look at the plumbing inside the house too. A new service line doesn’t fix lead solder or old fixtures inside, and a home with both lead and galvanized pipe may need the interior and exterior planned together. Our galvanized guide explains how the service line and the pipes inside affect each other. Arrow offers financing for water line work.
How Arrow Approaches Lead Service Lines
We find out what you have before we price anything, so you only pay for the work your house needs.
- Identify the material at each point. We check the service line at the meter, the interior runs, and visible joints for lead solder, and compare what we find with the utility’s inventory.
- Check for leaks. If there’s a wet spot in the yard or a meter that moves with everything off, we locate the leak before planning around it.
- Coordinate with your water system. We help you sort out what the utility’s program covers and what falls on your side, so the work isn’t duplicated or done halfway. If the program hasn’t reached your street and you don’t want to wait, we can replace your side and coordinate the connection with the utility.
- Give you options in writing. You get the scope for the service line, the interior, or both, so you can decide what to do now and what can wait.
Call Arrow Sewer & Drain at (908) 472-3801 to schedule an evaluation.
The Bottom Line On Lead Pipes
A lead service line doesn’t mean your water is unusable today. It does mean there’s a known source of lead between the main and your tap, and New Jersey has set 2031 as the date to remove it. Find out what your line is made of, take the simple precautions until it’s replaced, test your water, and ask your water system when its program will reach your street. If the answer is years away and you’d rather not wait, you can replace your side sooner. If your letter says lead, galvanized, or unknown, it’s worth acting on, not filing away.
Lead Pipe FAQs
Are lead pipes dangerous?
Lead pipes can release lead into drinking water, and the EPA’s health goal for lead in water is zero. Infants, young children, and pregnant women are most at risk. Using cold water, flushing taps after water sits, and using a filter certified for lead reduce exposure until the line is replaced.
How can I tell if I have lead pipes?
Check the pipe where the water line enters your home, usually next to the meter. Lead is dull gray, soft enough to scratch to a shiny silver with a key, and a magnet won’t stick to it. Your water system’s service line inventory can also tell you what its records show for your address.
When were lead pipes banned?
Congress banned lead pipes, solder, and flux in drinking water plumbing in 1986 through amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act. The limit was tightened again in 2014. Many lead service lines installed before the ban are still in use.
Do galvanized pipes contain lead?
Galvanized pipe isn’t lead pipe, but older zinc coatings can contain traces of lead, and galvanized pipe downstream of lead can trap and release lead particles. New Jersey treats galvanized service lines as lead service lines for replacement under the 2031 law.
Does boiling water remove lead?
No. Boiling doesn’t remove lead and can concentrate it as water evaporates. Use cold water, flush the tap after water sits, and use a filter certified to reduce lead.
Do water filters remove lead?
Some do. Look for a filter certified by NSF International to reduce lead, follow the installation directions, and replace the cartridge on schedule. A filter reduces exposure, but replacing the lead line is the lasting fix.
Will my water utility replace my lead service line?
New Jersey requires every public community water system to replace all lead and galvanized service lines by 2031. Investor-owned utilities spread the cost across ratepayers, while publicly owned utilities may bill individual owners. Programs are scheduled by area, not on request. You can hire your own plumber sooner, at your own cost, as long as the utility is told before the work starts.
Should I buy a house with lead pipes?
A lead service line isn’t a reason to walk away, but it’s a cost to plan for. Check the pipe at the meter and the utility’s inventory before closing, and ask whether the utility’s program will cover replacement. Our galvanized guide covers what to check before buying an older house, and the same checks apply to lead.
Do lead pipes rust?
No. Rust comes from iron, and lead contains none. Lead corrodes by forming scale on the inside wall, and lead from that scale can dissolve or flake into the water even when the outside of the pipe looks fine.
References
- NJDEP: Lead in Drinking Water, Public FAQ (galvanized and gooseneck definitions, 2031 deadline, certified-mail notices, split ownership, no direct state funding to homeowners, coordinate with the water system before replacing your side, 30-second flush after six hours, NSF-certified filters, cold water only)
- NJDEP: Lead Service Line Law Requirements Q&A (galvanized added to the definition 7/22/21, replacement by 7/22/31, 10% average annual pace, notices to off-site owners, landlord posting requirement for tenants)
- US EPA: Basic Information about Lead in Drinking Water (how lead enters water, health goal of zero, at-risk groups, formula infants 40-60%, boiling doesn’t remove lead)
- US EPA: Use of Lead Free Pipes, Fittings, Fixtures, Solder, and Flux (1986 ban, original 8% / 0.2% limits, 2011 Act’s 0.25% weighted average)
- NJBIA: DEP Tells Property Owners Not To Discard Notices About Water Service Lines (about 143,000 known lead lines, more than 1 million unknown, annual notices, notices confused with protection-plan solicitations)
- NBC Philadelphia: NJ to Notify 186K Properties to Replace Lead Water Pipes (public utilities may bill owners or ratepayers; investor-owned utilities spread cost across the rate base)
- New Jersey American Water: Lead Service Line Replacement Program (customer-owned lead or galvanized portion replaced at no direct cost, under a signed agreement; self-report portal and inventory map)
- New Jersey American Water: Lead Service Line FAQs (utility owns main to curb stop and replaces its side regardless; cost recovered through a charge on water bills; no replacement on request; homeowners may hire their own contractor at their own expense with no reimbursement and must notify the utility first; partial replacement can increase lead exposure)
- New Jersey American Water: Pipe Material Information (mains not lead; homes before 1930 more likely to have lead lines, before 1986 lead solder; scratch and magnet tests; lead test kits test the pipe, not the water; wash hands; self-report form)
- Trenton Water Works: Lead Service Line Replacement Program (about 23,000 LSLs remaining; nearly 30% replaced since 2019; Trenton, Ewing, Lawrence, parts of Hamilton; free with Right-of-Entry form; 2031)
- Water Online: Newark Completes Lead Service Line Replacement Program (Feb 2022; about 24,000 lines; started March 2019; no cost to residents; county bond shortened the timeline)
- CBS New York: Passaic Valley Water Commission Asks NJ For $26 Million (Jan 2020; about 14,000 customer lead lines, about 7,000 in Paterson; Clifton, Passaic, Prospect Park)
- NJ Infrastructure Bank: Elizabeth City Lead Service Line Replacement (June 2026; Phases 4-5, 1,600 lines)
- US EPA: Partnership with 10 New Jersey Communities to Accelerate Lead Service Line Replacement (Nov 2023; the ten communities)
- Jersey Water Works: Where Are the Lead Service Lines in New Jersey? (most LSLs installed before 1940)
