Water Service Line Self-Identification

Lead and Copper Rule Revision

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently published the Lead and Copper Rule Revision (LCRR), requiring public water works to complete a service line inventory by Oct. 16, 2024. The Chesterfield County Utilities Department has begun the inventory process and needs your help to identify the service line material on your water service line as it enters your home.  

Chesterfield County Utilities is committed to providing the highest quality water to our customers. The health of our customers is a high priority and we take pride in the water service provided to you. Part of meeting this goal is to ensure the water you use is lead-free. 

The water serving Chesterfield County is non-detectable for lead as it leaves the treatment plants and travels through our water mains. As this water flows to our customers, it reaches the service lines that bring water to the meter and then to the inside home plumbing. If the service line pipes and/or fittings contain lead, there is potential for lead to get into your drinking water. 

Chesterfield County has had excellent results in water quality as demonstrated by regularly sampled water collected throughout the county. Those samples are tested for lead and other constituents of concern. The results are annually reported in our Water Quality Report (PDF). 

Service Line Inventory

Chesterfield County Utilities is diligently working to inventory the service line pipe material used in our public distribution system. This includes both the county-owned portion (from the water main to the meter) and customer-owned (from the meter to the building) portions of the service line. 

To complete the inventory, the Utilities Department has reviewed historical records, including tap cards, building codes, construction specifications, work order history and similar documents to identify service line materials. As of October 2023, of the 114,600 water accounts in Chesterfield County, fewer than 9,500 public-owned service lines are of unknown material. Approximately 31,000 privately-owned service lines are of unknown material. To date, we have not located any lead service lines. It is important to identify all pipes’ materials to achieve EPA’s long-term goal to reduce lead exposure from drinking water.

To check the records we have your service line, enter you address in the search box below.

Self-identification of Service Lines 

This is where we need your help to reduce the number of unknown privately-owned service lines in Chesterfield County. We created a Water Service Line Self-Identification Survey for our customers to report their service line material to Chesterfield County Utilities.

The privately-owned water service line material can be identified where the service enters your home or building. For residential customers, this is typically found in your crawl space, basement or garage, and can consist of a variety of materials. To identify your service line material, first locate the main shut-off valve serving the building. This valve will turn the water off to the entire building by pulling a handle (for example, a ball valve) or twisting a small wheel (for example, a gate valve).

When identifying your service line, pipes can be made of either plastic, copper, galvanized steel or lead. Please see the information below on identifying factors of each material.  

• Plastic: White, blue or black in color and will often be labeled “PVC.” Magnet will not stick. Difficult to scratch, little to no color change. 
• Copper: Copper or brown color. May have green tint. Magnet will not stick. Shiny copper color like a penny when scratched.
• Galvanized Steel: Black, silver, gray or rust in color. Magnet will stick. Harder metal somewhat difficult material to scratch (silver or gray color when scratched).
  
• Lead: Dull gray color. Magnet will not stick. Soft metal scratches easily with a key or a coin and produces silver or gray scratch. May appear bulged where connected to the valve.  

Chesterfield County Utilities and our customers have a joint responsibility to protect our drinking water from lead sources. Although we are currently unaware of any privately-owned lead service lines in our distribution system, customers may have lead service lines.  

Plumbing codes enforced on the privately-owned portion of the service line allowed lead service lines until Aug. 1, 1978, and a 2-year grace period was allowed for buildings underway in either design or construction. Therefore, buildings completed before Aug. 1, 1980, are at the greatest risk for having lead service lines in Chesterfield County.   

Next Steps 

Chesterfield County Utilities will review all customer information received via the Water Service Line Self-Identification Survey, and use the information received to update our inventory records.

There are currently no plans to replace privately-owned lead service lines in Chesterfield County. Chesterfield County Utilities will look for alternative funding sources, such as grants, to assist homeowners with lead service line replacement projects.  

Having a complete inventory will allow Chesterfield County Utilities to identify areas of concern and prioritize funding to areas serving at-risk populations. 

Contact 

If you have any further questions about identifying your service line, please email Chesterfield County Utilities or call 804-748-1310. We thank you for your assistance in reporting this important information.