NYLCVEF’s new interactive map was created to help New York State residents determine if the building they live in (i.e., small apartment building or a single-family home) or visit or work in (i.e., a house of worship or small office) has a drinking water service line that is or may be made of lead. The map can be searched by address and can be filtered by city or town, county, or legislative district, which enables residents and public officials to advocate for themselves and their communities.
Key Findings
Click on the following links to see the percentage of water service lines that are lead or possibly lead, sorted by:
City | County | Assembly District | Senate District | Congressional District
What's a Water Service Line?
A drinking water service line is the pipe that delivers water from the water main in the middle of a street to a building, and lead can leach into drinking water from these pipes and other plumbing if they contain lead.
About Lead Exposure
Lead is a poisonous heavy metal that can affect almost every organ and system in the human body, often with irreversible effects. People of all ages face health risks from lead exposure, but fetuses and young children are most susceptible to the adverse effects of lead. The CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the World Health Organization, and the EPA all state that there is no safe level of lead exposure.
What makes lead exposure particularly dangerous in drinking water is that it is colorless, tasteless, and odorless.
If you have a service line or plumbing fixtures that contain lead, or if you don’t know what material type they’re made of, follow these tips to minimize your lead exposure:
- RUN your water for at least 30 seconds or until it gets cold. Once the water is cold, run it for 15 seconds more.
- USE COLD WATER for cooking, drinking, or preparing infant formula. Hot tap water is more likely to contain lead and other metals.
- REMOVE AND CLEAN the faucet screen monthly (also called an aerator), where small particles can get trapped.
- HIRE a licensed plumber to identify and replace plumbing fixtures and/or service line that contain lead.
