How to tell if you have a lead service line
Updated November 2, 2026
Your water service line is the pipe that runs from the water main under the street into your house. If your home was built before about 1986, it may be lead. You can check it yourself in about five minutes.
Step 1: Look up your address
Every U.S. water utility had to file a service line inventory with its state by October 16, 2024, and most publish it as an online map. Search your utility's name plus "service line inventory" or "lead map", or open your city's page on this site, which links to the official program. The map will say lead, galvanized requiring replacement, non-lead or unknown. Unknown means the utility doesn't have records, not that the line is safe.
Step 2: Find the pipe where it enters your home
The service line usually comes through the basement or crawl space wall or floor on the street side of the house, and connects to the water meter and a shut-off valve. In warm climates the meter may be outside in a box near the curb. Look at the few inches of pipe before the meter, between the wall and the meter.
Step 3: Scratch test
Gently scratch the pipe with a coin or the edge of a key, through any paint.
- Lead: dull gray outside, scratches easily, and the scratch shows bright shiny silver. Lead pipes are often wider where they meet the meter, with a rounded bulb-shaped joint.
- Copper: the scratch looks like a new penny.
- Galvanized steel: gray, hard, and doesn't scratch to bright silver; often has threaded joints.
- Plastic: white, black or blue, and obviously not metal.
Step 4: Magnet test
Hold a refrigerator magnet against the pipe. A magnet sticks to galvanized steel but not to lead or copper. So: gray, soft, shiny when scratched and no magnet pull means lead. Gray, hard and the magnet sticks means galvanized.
Step 5: Report it
Many utilities ask you to send a photo of the pipe so they can update the inventory, and some will send someone to check for free. A self-report can move you up the replacement list, and it can take your home off the "unknown" list if the pipe is copper.
Why galvanized lines matter too
A galvanized line that is, or ever was, downstream of a lead pipe or lead connector can collect lead particles inside its rough walls and release them later. Federal rules call these "galvanized requiring replacement" and treat them like lead. See galvanized vs. lead.
Test your water
A pipe check tells you what the line is made of; a water test tells you whether lead is reaching your tap. Many utilities offer free kits. If yours doesn't, see our lead test kit guide.
Sources: EPA: lead in drinking water, EPA LCRI
Common questions
What year did they stop using lead water pipes?
Congress banned lead pipes in new plumbing in 1986. Many cities stopped earlier, but some, including Chicago, kept requiring lead service lines until the ban. Homes built before 1986 are most at risk.
Does a magnet stick to lead pipe?
No. A magnet doesn't stick to lead or copper. It does stick to galvanized steel, which helps tell lead and galvanized apart.
Can I have lead pipes if my inside plumbing is copper?
Yes. The service line under your yard can be lead even when everything inside is copper. Check your utility's inventory map.
Find your city's program
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