In the past, public water systems only kept an inventory of public water service lines. In an effort to address lead in drinking water, the US Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA's) Lead and Cooper Rule (LCR) was established in 2021 requiring water systems to keep an inventory of all service lines, both public and private. The goal of this initiative is to improve water infrastructure safety and reliability, and to ensure compliance with national regulations. The Marblehead Water Department has worked tirelessly to develop a complete service line inventory of connections bringing water from the main lines to individual properties, with the goal of identifying what material those lines are made of.
What is a Service Line?
Service lines carry water into your home from the water system's water main pipeline.
For each service address in the service line inventory, information is provided for the section of service line that is system-owned (controlled by the Village water department) and for the section that is customer-owned. Public service lines are typically from the watermain to the meter vault, whereas private service lines are typically between the meter vault and the customer’s premises.
How to Check Your Line
To check what material your service line is connecting your property to the main, you will need to locate your service line entrance. Typically this is located in a utility room on the lowest level of your home (basement) or a crawl space. You are looking for the first 18 inches of pipe to enter the property. If you have an indoor water meter, it might be on this pipe.
You will need a coin and a magnet to conduct your test.
- Scratch the pipe with a coin or key to see if the scraped area is silver-coated and shiny
- Check to see if a magnet sticks to the pipe.
- Record your results and contact the Marblehead Water Department if you believe the inventory spreadsheet to be inaccurate.
Results:
- Plastic: plastic pipes are found in a variety of materials and colors. When tapped with a coin, they won't produce a ringing sound
- Copper: When scratched, the pipe is made of copper if it becomes orange and shiny like a penny. A magnet will not stick to it
- Galvanized Steel: If the pipe is silvery gray and hard to scratch, place a magnet on it. If the magnet sticks, it is galvanized steel or iron
- Lead: If the pipe is silvery gray and 1) easily scratched and 2) the metal seems soft and 3) a magnet doesn't stick to it, it is most likely a lead pipe
Marblehead's Service Line Inventory
Below is a link to the current inventory list of all service lines in the Village’s water system. The inventory includes all service lines, regardless of the actual or intended use. Service lines are classified into four definitions:
- Lead: a portion of the pipe that is made of lead, which connects the watermain to the building inlet
- Galvanized Requiring Replacement (GRR): a galvanized service line that is or ever was downstream of an LSL or is currently downstream of an unknown service line
- Non-Lead: the service line is determined not to be lead or GRR through an evidence based record, method or technique (examples include plastic, cooper or galvanized pipe)
- Unknown: the service line material is not known to be a lead, GRR or non-lead, such as where there is no documented evidence supporting material classification
Open the link below, to view the Village of Marblehead's service line inventory...