Western Virginia Water Authority
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Make sure we are lead free by identifying and reporting your water service line material
Why do we need your help?
Providing the highest quality drinking water is the top priority of the Western Virginia Water Authority. A part of meeting that goal is to make sure that the water coming out of your faucets is lead free.
The water that leaves our treatment plants is non-detect for lead; however, as this water flows through pipes, it comes in contact with materials that are used to make pipes as well as the plumbing inside our customers' homes. If there is lead present in those pipes or pipe fittings, lead can get into the drinking water. The Authority is inspecting all our pipes to make sure they are lead free, but we need your help to identify the material used in your water service line.
What are we doing?
The Authority is developing an inventory of all service line pipe material used in our public distribution system and in the customer's pipe from the meter to the home. This is a requirement of the Environmental Protection Agency's Lead and Copper Rule Revision.
The Authority is using an statistical method, the Virginia Department of Health approved EGLE method, to develop the inventory. Data for the inventory is being collected based on visual inspections by Authority personnel, information submitted by customers, data regarding the year the home was built, and information the Authority has on pipe size and replacement. If the customer has a galvanized service line that is or was at any time downstream of a lead service line or is currently downstream of a “Lead Status Unknown” service line, customers are individually notified by mail.
Our drinking water is tested, and it is non-detect for lead when it leaves our treatment facility. We are inspecting all service lines to make sure there are no lead lines in our 1,200- mile distribution system (public side). In addition, the Authority is adding corrosion control (orthophosphate) or adjusts the pH of the water so that the water doesn't pull any potential lead or copper from the pipes. You can read more about this in our annual water quality report.
To date, no lead lines have been found on the public side. To help protect customers, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has established a rule - the Lead and Copper Rule Revision (LCRR). As part of the LCRR, all drinking water utilities must develop an inventory of pipe material on public (Authority owned) and private (customer owned) service lines. This pipe material inventory, although not required to be complete, has to be electronically available to the public by October 2024. You will find that inventory as we develop it on our GIS Water Service Line Inventory Map
What can you do?
While we do not know of any lead pipes in our distribution system, customers - particularly those in older homes - may have lead plumbing or pipes that are joined with lead solder.
You can learn more about the pipe material in your home and help the Authority meet the requirements of the LCRR by inspecting your home plumbing and reporting the pipe material that you have in your water service line coming into your home. Simply inspect the pipes coming into your home and then report your findings on our website.
How can I determine what type of plumbing material I have?
The Western Virginia Water Authority is developing a Lead Service Line Inventory that is available on our GIS Water Service Line Inventory Map. You can search by your property's address to see what pipe material carries water to your meter, and what type of pipe material comes from the meter to your home, if we have been to your meter box and were able to identify the material.
- First check the GIS Water Service Line Inventory Map below to see if we have identified your pipe material. Pipe material is listed as Lead, Non-Lead, Galvanized Requiring Replacement or Unknown. This information was obtained by visual inspection at your meter box and based on the year your house was built. If your home was built, or your plumbing replaced, after 1988, it is unlikely that you have any lead components in the plumbing on your private side.
- If the pipe material is listed as unknown, please go to the Pipe Material Information page to submit your pipe material to us by using the Self Reporting Tool. Since the Water Authority does not know what type of plumbing materials are inside your home, we have provided some photos and testing tips to help you determine what type pipe material comes from your meter to your house.