How to protect yourself and your family from lead water pipes

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that about 9 million homes and other buildings nationwide – including about 380,000 in Texas – receive drinking water through lead service lines.

The problem has long been that nobody knows where they all are. These lead pipes, as well as other galvanized pipes that may be contaminated with lead, were installed decades ago and their locations have been forgotten with the passage of time.

Here’s what you need to know and how you can protect yourself and your family:

Older neighborhoods are at increased risk

Service lines are the pipes that bring water into your home or other building from your utility’s water main, which is often under the street. Service lines can be made out of various types of metal or plastic. Lead and certain galvanized pipes are the ones that pose health risks.

If you live in a neighborhood built after 1988, when Texas banned the use of lead pipes, you likely don’t have a lead service line, experts say. The EPA says lead service lines were primarily installed during the late 1800s through the 1940s, though they may have been used to a lesser extent beyond that.

by Alison Young / Staff Writer

While water utilities in Texas and across the country were given an Oct. 16 deadline to complete an initial inventory looking for these dangerous pipes, Houston Landing found that many utilities still don’t know the lead status of pipes at thousands of customers’ homes and other buildings.

Lead can be harmful even in small amounts

It’s important that people know what their water service line is made of because lead lines can contaminate drinking water with invisible particles of lead and pose a health risk – especially for children and pregnant women. This type of metal can accumulate in the body and harm the nervous system and other organs.

Infants who are fed formula mixed with lead-contaminated tap water are at particular risk of lead exposure, health officials say. That’s because the amount of water they consume daily is large compared to their small bodies.

Even at low levels, lead exposure can cause children to have developmental delays, hearing and speech problems, learning difficulties and reduced attention spans. Pregnant women exposed to lead are at increased risk of miscarriage and these exposures can harm their babies’ developing brains, kidneys and nervous systems. In adults, lead can increase the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, kidney problems and nervous system issues.

Check your utility’s water service line inventory

Starting on Oct. 16, 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency will require water utilities to publicly share certain information about what they know about the kind of pipe that delivers water at individual addresses throughout their system.

A good first place to look for this information is on your water utility’s website. Utilities that serve more than 50,000 people must post this service line information online. Smaller water systems can also post online, but they aren’t required to if they make the information available some other way, such as by mail or at the system’s office.

Utilities’ public reports are required to include location information about each line that has been classified as being made of lead, and also any line made of galvanized pipe that requires replacement because it may have absorbed lead from an upstream lead pipe.

The EPA recommends that utilities also publicly share information about the status of all their other service lines – including those determined to be made of non-lead materials and those made of unknown materials. But this is not required.

The City of Houston water system’s inventory is available as a searchable map at this link that allows the status of every pipe to be looked up by address or by zooming in on sections of the city. Other large local water systems have said they plan to post similar online maps.

Be on the lookout for a letter from your water provider

Water utilities have 30 days after completing their inventories to notify at-risk customers whose service lines are made of lead, involve galvanized pipes requiring replacement, or whose pipe has an unknown lead status.

So look for a letter or other type of communication from your water utility. These letters will include information about steps you can take to reduce exposure to lead in drinking water.

They also will include information about opportunities and any financing solutions to replace the lines. For those with lines that have an unknown lead status, the letters are supposed to provide information about ways to have pipe materials verified.

Inspect the pipe yourself

If your water utility doesn’t know what kind of service line is at your house, a plumber can help you find out. (It also doesn’t hurt to ask your utility if they will come out and inspect your line.)

The City of Houston water system is asking customers at more than 400,000 properties to inspect their own pipes and report back what they find. When these customers look up their address on the Houston Public Works water service line inventory map, they will find a link to a survey where they can self-report what kind of service line they have, including uploading photos of what they found.

The EPA also has created a step-by-step guide with pictures that show how to check your service line. The process generally involves locating your water meter, which is often in your yard, and then finding where your water service enters your home – if that area is accessible.

The City of Houston’s water service lines typically come out of the ground and go into the side of a building. Homes with pier-and-beam foundations may have the service line entering through the crawl space. At some homes, the city says, the line may enter the home through the slab, making it impossible for a resident to easily inspect.

If the pipe is gray, soft and easy to scratch with a key and a magnet doesn’t stick to it, it may be a lead pipe, the EPA guide advises. If it’s gray and hard to scratch – and a magnet sticks to it, it may be a galvanized steel pipe. Orange metal pipes are likely copper. And white and other color pipes may be a type of plastic.

Note that checking your side of the service line will not tell you what kind of pipe is on the utility’s side, which runs from the meter to the water main, which is often under the street. The pipe on either side of the water meter can be made of different materials.

by Alison Young / Staff Writer

Even if just one portion of the pipe is lead or a risky galvanized pipe, your water will be at risk of lead contamination.

Know that galvanized pipes can pose risks

It’s important to remember that in addition to pipes made of lead, certain galvanized pipes also pose a health risk.

The City of Houston’s water system is alerting its customers that galvanized water service lines were a common material used for many older homes.

These galvanized pipes have a protective anti-corrosion coating that can react with lead particles in water causing them to be absorbed into the pipe. If a galvanized pipe was ever downstream of a lead pipe, it has the potential to release lead particles into drinking water.

The EPA has required water utilities include these kinds of galvanized pipes, which are called “galvanized pipes requiring replacement,” in their inventories.

Be aware of your indoor plumbing, too

Although lead service lines that connect homes to water mains are considered by the EPA to typically be “the most significant source of lead in the water,” they are not the only source.

Plumbing installed inside homes prior to Texas’ 1988 lead ban, including brass and chrome-plated brass faucets, welding solder and pipe fittings, may contain lead. Even if your home is not served by a lead service line, you may have some older fixtures containing lead.

And as long as we’re talking about lead, don’t forget that older homes may also contain lead-based paint, and that soil near roadways and old lead factories may be contaminated with lead. The EPA has information about sources of lead in communities at this link.

Your local health department also has experts who can help answer questions about sources of lead exposure. The Houston Health Department, for example, said it provides free lead-based paint testing for residents and owners of homes built before 1978 if there are signs of chipping, peeling and cracking paint.

Filter your drinking water

If you have concerns about lead in your drinking water, the EPA suggests using a filter that is certified to remove lead. The agency has guides available in English and Spanish to help consumers find effective filters that either connect to a faucet, are inserted into a refrigerator’s water dispenser system, or are part of a water pitcher or water bottle.

In general, you are looking for text on the filter’s packaging that says it is tested and certified against NSF/ANSI Standards 42 and 53, or it may just indicate the filter removes lead and include NSF/ANSI 53 or NSF/ANSI 42 above or below the certification mark.

Consider getting water and children tested

If you are concerned your home may have lead in its pipes, ask your water utility if they will test your tap water.

Customers of the City of Houston’s water system can complete an online survey to see if their home qualifies free tap water testing. The survey, which asks questions about the age of the home and anything that is known about the age and type of its plumbing, is available at this link.

If you think your home is at risk and have children who live or visit, you may want to have their blood tested.

“If you have a concern about your kid, take them to the pediatrician, get them tested,” said Scott Jeansonne, director of environmental public health at Harris County Public Health. The test involves a simple finger prick.

“Those are probably the steps I would do: Let’s check my actual water at my house. And then if I have concerns about my children or my grandchildren, whomever, let the pediatrician know and see what they say,” Jeansonne said.

And remember to also consider whether the home has old faucets that also can leach lead into drinking water, he said.

“So the water line coming into your house may not have lead, but [tap water] might pick up the lead when it’s in your house from faucets or solder from where they fixed the pipe maybe 30 years ago before you ever even lived there,” said Jeansonne. “That’s why it’s so important for children who live in older built communities, get them lead tested.”

Share your experience with Houston Landing

Does your home or building get its water through a lead or lead-contaminated galvanized service line? Have you had getting access to your water utility’s inventory information about your home? Are you a plumber, contractor or developer who knows about lead lines in the Houston area? Houston Landing would like your help as we continue to report on ways to find solutions to the risky water pipes in our community. If you have information to share with us, please contact associate editor for investigations Alison Young at [email protected].

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by Alison Young, Houston Landing October 16, 2024

Allison is an investigative reporter specializing in health, environmental and consumer issues. Her work has revealed safety lapses at biological research labs, food manufacturers and nursing homes; hazards... More by Alison Young