Concord Water Launches Service Line Material Inventory

The City of Concord has published an online public inventory of service line materials of the City’s water distribution system, including city-maintained service lines and private service lines maintained by property owners. This effort is part of new federal Lead & Copper Rule Improvement (LCRI) requirements to require all water systems across the United States to create and maintain a public inventory of service line materials to raise awareness and help avoid possible exposure to lead in drinking water.

Water service lines can be made of copper, plastic, brass, galvanized steel, or lead. Lead pipes and solder became banned in 1986, but older homes may still find lead in the original plumbing. Fortunately, the City of Concord has proactively phased out and replaced any lead service lines in the public City water system. However, it is possible for lead service lines or lead-absorbed galvanized steel to still exist within a property owner’s private property.

The City of Concord is now assisting water customers to identify and replace any private lead pipes or plumbing materials on the customer-owned portion of the system. The City is only responsible for maintaining water infrastructure within the City’s right-of-way, which typically is from the middle of the street to the back of the sidewalk or 8-10’ from the edge of the pavement. The City maintains the water service line from the water main in the street up to the curb box (water shut off), while the property owner is responsible for maintaining the rest of the water service line after the curb box.

The City of Concord started the Service Line Inventory Project in May 2023 to identify all water service lines. In Concord, there are over 11,900 water service connections. At the start of the project, there were around 1,700 private water service lines with no accurate service material record. The City of Concord mailed letters to the property owners of these unknown water service lines to request an appointment for City staff to inspect their service line. As of October 2024, that number has reduced to 749 private connections with unknown water service lines. In addition, 11,011 private service lines have been detected with non-lead materials, 159 private service lines have been detected with galvanized steel, and 0 private service lines have been detected to be made of lead.

Property owners with water service lines still not identified or with detected galvanized steel will receive new letters in November as part of the ongoing Service Line Inventory Project. Galvanized steel pipes may have had a previous lead service line connection that may have absorbed lead and could contribute to lead exposure in the drinking water. Unknown service line materials are assumed to be made of lead (unlikely) until detected otherwise. The letters will include information to request a free water test at the City’s Water Treatment Plant Laboratory, information about possible financing solutions to assist property owners with replacing their service line, and how to contact the City to identify unknown service line materials or how to self-report service line materials on the City website. These letters will be sent annually per federal regulations until service lines containing lead are removed or the water system can verify that the service line does not contain lead.

Water customers who haven’t previously received a letter and don’t receive one by the end of 2024 are classified as having service line materials that do not contain lead.

Water systems serving less than 50,000 customers are not required to publish their lead service line inventory online, but Concord elects to make this information easily accessible to the public.

“Concord is in excellent standing and has been ahead of any drinking water regulations,” states Marco Philippon, Water Treatment Superintendent. “We want to remain transparent on this project and assure the community that Concord’s water is safe and of the highest quality. We will continue to work with customers to identify service line materials and advise them to replace any galvanized steel or lead lines found.”

Concord’s Water Service Line Inventory and more information can be found online at www.concordnh.gov/waterservicelines.