As Lead Pipe Inventory Data Trickles In, Improvements Are Identified

Lead is a dangerous contaminant. There is no safe level of lead exposure. Children are especially vulnerable, facing increased risks of developmental delays, learning disabilities, and other serious health impacts.

Drinking water is one possible pathway to lead exposure. Lead pipes, lead solder, or lead-containing fixtures in plumbing systems may be quietly contaminating drinking water due to the corrosion of these elements. Drinking water that comes into contact with these corrosive elements for a long period of time (i.e. sitting idle in pipes for hours) may release lead into the water as it flows through faucets and fountains. Yet for many communities, the exact number and location of these lead pipes remain unknown which remains a risk today. 

One pathway of drinking exposure is from a lead service line (LSL), a pipe made of lead that connects the water main in the street to a building’s plumbing system which is usually the homeowner’s water meter or indoor plumbing system. These pipes were commonly installed in homes and buildings up until the mid-20th century, especially before 1986, when the U.S. banned the use of lead in plumbing due to its health risks.

Across New York, lead service lines (LSLs) in smaller, older homes, pose a risk and continue to threaten the health of NYS residents. To address this, New York enacted the Lead Pipe Right to Know Act in 2023 which requires the state Department of Health to make available information that it collected from water utilities about how many lead service lines are in their water system, among other details, per the federal Lead and Copper Rule. 

The deadline for water systems to submit their inventories to the Department of Health was October 16, 2024. Per the Lead Pipe Right to Know Act, all records were due to be posted by the Department of Heath by mid-February 2025 as required by state regulation.

NYLCV was a strong proponent of the Lead Pipe Right to Know Act and has been monitoring its implementation closely. Over the past few months, NYLCV Education Fund Lead in Drinking Water Fellow Arnav Lund created a database evaluating the availability of data found in the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) Lead Service Line Inventory portal. Arnav’s work involved systematically reviewing the database over the past few months to verify that information was available for all community public water systems (PWS) that were available for review. 

Here’s what we know about 2,800 community public water systems in New York State (57 counties + NYC) as of  May 31, 2025:

• Water System listed, working hyperlink: 2,036 (73% statewide average)
  • Only 4 counties — Hamilton, Monroe, Orleans and Schenectady — and NYC have 100% of their records listed with a working hyperlink
  • Tompkins County has the fewest number of reports listed with working hyperlinks (43%) – full list of counties here.
• Water System listed, broken or missing hyperlink: 203 (7% statewide average) – full list of water systems here
• Water System not listed at all: 561 (20% statewide average) – full list of water systems here

With no data available for 27% or 764 water suppliers (as shown in Figure 1), it appears that either these water systems are not in compliance with state regulation or the NYS Department of Health has a backlog of data that it hasn’t had an opportunity to upload. Until 100% of the data is made publicly available, it will be difficult for state lawmakers to have a complete picture of how lead pipes are in each community around the state and how much money water suppliers will need via state assistance to comply with new federal regulations requiring all lead pipes to be removed by 2037. 

While we are waiting to analyze the full data set, here’s what we know to date from the record that we can access:

• 3.7 million service lines have been reported
• 2.5 million service lines are reported as not lead
• 934,000 reported as “unknown”
• 288,000 reported as lead/galvanized pipes

To get a sense of where the greatest concern is around the state, here’s a listing of communities with at least 1,000 lead/galvanized lines:

This list highlights where the greatest public and environmental health urgency lies. These communities should be more prioritized for inspections, funding, and replacements to reduce the risk of lead exposure through drinking water overall.

The 934,000 listed as “Unknown” on the DOH website are concerning as this missing information can be a serious public health risk since some of those lines may contain lead. It also makes it harder for the state to plan and fund lead pipe replacement.

There’s a bill under consideration by the state legislature known as the “Find Lead Pipes Faster Act” that would make it easier for water systems to conduct service line inspections to identify lead service lines. NYLCV and its partners support this bill which was passed by the state senate in June 2025 and awaits action in the state assembly.

This legislation empowers utilities to conduct free, noninvasive inspections to identify LSLs, clarifies that tenants or adult occupants can grant access when landlords are unresponsive, and ensures property owners are required to cooperate with inspections.

You can count on NYLCV and its team of researchers to continue to monitor this situation and urge for rapid compliance with the Lead Pipe Right to Know Act because we all have a right to know where lead pipes are lurking.