Do I have lead water pipes? How to check and protect your household

Start with the pipe entering your home, then check the records.

The answer in 2 lines. Lead can enter drinking water from the service line connecting your home to the water main, indoor plumbing, solder or fixtures. A dull gray pipe that scratches silver and does not attract a magnet may be lead, but visual checks cannot prove your water is safe. Ask for your service-line material record, arrange certified testing and use cold water with a filter certified to reduce lead while the issue is investigated. Boiling does not remove lead.

The first steps

Identify the incoming line. Open EPA’s Protect Your Tap guide and follow its steps to locate and assess the service pipe. Do not scrape a corroded or inaccessible pipe.
Ask for the material record. Use your water bill’s customer-service contact and ask what is recorded for both portions of your service line. If the material is unknown, ask how it can be verified.
Reduce exposure now. Use cold water for drinking, cooking and preparing formula, with a properly maintained filter certified to reduce lead. Follow CDC’s drinking-water precautions to check the certification and use it correctly.

Stop: danger

Do not cut, sand or aggressively scrape suspected lead piping. Leave repairs and replacement to qualified workers.
Possible exposure: contact your child’s healthcare provider if you suspect lead exposure. A blood test assesses exposure; a household water test does not diagnose poisoning.
Do not rely on appearance or taste. Dissolved lead cannot be seen, smelled or tasted. Clear water can still contain it.

What the pipe can tell you

Material	Typical clue	Limitation
Lead	Dull gray; a gentle scratch reveals shiny silver; a magnet does not stick	Confirmation may require a professional inspection
Galvanized steel	Usually gray; a magnet sticks	Its history matters: it may have accumulated lead from upstream piping
Copper	Copper-colored surface where exposed	Older solder or other components can still contain lead
Plastic	Nonmetallic pipe	It identifies only the section you can see

For an accessible pipe in good condition, use the identification method in the linked guide rather than improvising a destructive test. Photograph the pipe and ask for help if the result is unclear. A replaced indoor section does not establish what remains underground.

What not to do

Boiling water to remove lead: it does not work.
Assuming a refrigerator or pitcher filter removes lead without checking its specific certification.
Flushing immediately before collecting a laboratory sample unless the sampling instructions require it.
Treating a neighborhood water-quality report or a single reassuring sample as proof that every household fixture is lead-free.

Get a meaningful water test

Use EPA’s state laboratory directory: open the state-program document, find your state and request a laboratory certified for lead in drinking water. Ask about the sampling kit, cost and collection method before collecting anything.

Explain whether you want to assess routine drinking-water exposure, a particular fixture or a suspected service line. Follow the laboratory’s stagnation and collection instructions exactly. Keep the written results and ask what follow-up sampling is appropriate. Results can vary with water use and sampling conditions.

For practical exposure reduction, follow EPA’s household lead guidance: use cold water, maintain filters, clean faucet aerators and ask for flushing instructions suited to your plumbing. Flushing alone is not a guarantee that lead has been removed.

Who arranges replacement?

Ownership and payment arrangements vary by community. Ask the water provider to identify the boundary, explain any replacement program and confirm what assistance applies to your address. Do not assume the meter always marks the ownership boundary or that replacement is automatically free.

Renters should notify the landlord in writing and request the material record, testing and a corrective plan. Condo residents should involve management where the service or piping is shared. State and local housing rules affect enforcement and responsibility.

If replacement is scheduled, ask whether the entire lead service line will be removed and request written instructions for filtration, flushing and testing afterward. Disturbing old lines can release lead-containing particles.

Good to know

The house’s age is a clue, not a verdict. Plumbing materials, repairs and fixtures matter too.
Use EPA’s explanation of water testing to understand why pipe identification and testing answer different questions.

Illustrative example: a homeowner finds copper near the basement meter, but the buried service-line material is unknown. She requests the records, arranges certified sampling and uses a lead-reduction filter for drinking water while the line is investigated.

A made-up story, for illustration.

Bobby

Sources, verification, confidence

Verified on November 4, 2026, for the United States. Confidence: high for exposure-reduction and certified-testing guidance; medium for visual identification. Ownership, funding and replacement arrangements require local confirmation. No system-wide regulatory action level is presented as a guarantee that an individual tap is safe.