Lead pipes and lead in tap water: your area result vs your home

Why your area result is not a test of your home

Suppliers take lead samples from customers’ taps across a supply zone and publish a summary for a period, such as a mean, a highest result and the number of samples. Most of those homes will not have lead pipes. So a low average, or no samples above the limit, describes the zone as a whole. It cannot rule out lead from the pipes in your own property.

The opposite is also true: a single high result in a zone is often traced to the plumbing in one property. Read the supplier’s notes alongside the numbers.

How to tell if you have lead pipes

The Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) says lead pipes were commonly used to connect homes to the mains before 1970. A home built before 1970 may have lead pipes; one built after 1970 is unlikely to. To check, DWI suggests:

1. Find your internal stop tap, where water first comes into the property. It is often under the kitchen sink.
2. Look at the pipe going into the stop tap. Unpainted lead pipe is dull grey and often has a swollen joint next to the tap.
3. Lead is soft. Gently scraping it with a coin shows shiny, silver-coloured metal. Wear disposable gloves and avoid breathing in any dust.
4. Copper pipe is bright and hard, and iron pipe is dark and very hard.

Some lead pipe may be hidden, for example underground between your boundary and the house. Your water supplier can advise, and several offer a lead test (see the schemes below). If you are buying a home, DWI suggests asking your surveyor to check the pipes.

Who is responsible for which pipe

• The communication pipe runs from the water main in the street to the stop valve outside your property. It belongs to your water supplier.
• The supply pipe (or private pipe) runs from that outside stop valve into your home. The property owner is responsible for it.
• The pipes inside your home are also the property owner’s responsibility.

If you rent, tell your landlord or housing association if you think there are lead pipes.

What to do if you think you have lead pipes

• Contact your water supplier. Ask whether it can test your water for lead and whether it has a replacement scheme.
• For drinking and cooking, DWI advises running the tap to clear water that has stood in the pipes, for example overnight. A washing-up bowl full is normally enough; with a long supply pipe you may need longer. Notice when the water turns colder as fresh mains water comes through.
• Replacing lead pipes reduces lead for good. DWI suggests using an approved plumber (see the WaterSafe website) and telling your water company: it is legally required to replace its communication pipe if it is lead and at risk of adding lead to your water.
• Working on lead pipes can temporarily increase lead levels. DWI says to flush the tap well for at least 10 minutes after any work on a lead pipe.

DWI says infants (including unborn babies) and children are at particular risk from lead. If you are pregnant or have young children and are worried, speak to your GP or health visitor as well as your water supplier.

Water supplier lead pipe replacement schemes

Suppliers must replace their own lead communication pipe where it is at risk of adding lead, and many do this when a customer replaces their lead supply pipe. Some offer more help, such as free tests. Terms change, so check the supplier’s own page before arranging work. The summaries below come from each supplier’s page as checked on the review date.

• Thames Water

  If you replace the lead supply pipe on your side of the boundary, Thames Water says it will replace its own lead pipe to the main. Check the page for current terms.

  Thames Water: lead pipes

• Severn Trent

  If you replace the lead pipes within your boundary, Severn Trent says it will provide a free connection to its main.

  Severn Trent: lead pipes

• United Utilities

  United Utilities says it offers a free connection from your boundary to the main when you replace your lead supply pipe. You pay for the work inside your boundary.

  United Utilities: lead pipes

• Yorkshire Water

  Yorkshire Water offers a free lead test. It says that if the test finds lead above 10 µg/l and the pipe is lead, it will replace its own section free of charge. Its page also mentions possible council grants for your part.

  Yorkshire Water: lead pipes

• Wessex Water

  Wessex Water offers a free sample. Where lead levels are high it says it replaces its own pipework and may replace external customer pipework after an inspection; it does not replace internal plumbing.

  Wessex Water: lead pipes

• Affinity Water

  Affinity Water describes a programme to replace or line its own lead pipes. We did not find a customer grant or free supply-pipe offer on its page.

  Affinity Water: lead pipes

• Scottish Water

  Scottish Water asks customers to replace lead in their supply pipe and internal plumbing first. It then investigates and renews its own pipe if needed.

  Scottish Water: lead pipes

• Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water

  Welsh Water describes a Lead Support Scheme. We could not open the scheme’s terms, so check them with Welsh Water directly.

  Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water: lead pipes

Not listed? Find your supplier’s website and search for “lead pipes”.

The legal limit for lead

The legal limit for lead in drinking water in England is 10 µg/l (micrograms per litre), set in Schedule 1 of the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2016. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have the same 10 µg/l standard in their own regulations. A result below the limit for a zone does not show that every home met it.