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Service Line Inventory
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requires that water utilities keep record of what type of pipe material customers have that serves them county water. While we have some of these records, we need help determining the rest.
What kind of pipe is feeding water into your home? Is it copper? Lead? Something else? Learn how to find out by using these visual guides.
Once you’ve determined what kind of material feeds water into your structure, let us know by completing this survey.
Please know that if your water service line is lead, your health is likely not in imminent danger. Years of use creates a scaling on the inner walls of the pipe, which acts as a protective barrier. Plans to replace lead service lines will be discussed in the future.
As we collect more data, we will share a map with you of the materials we find in this process.
Questions? Email [email protected]
Hydro excavation and your home
Montgomery County Environmental Services is working to proactively determine what materials may be seen in area water service lines not already tracked in our system.
Using property records, we can indicate which homes have water lines that are “likely lead.” If your home was built during this time frame, it is not guaranteed that your water line is lead, but it is probable.
Another example could be if MCES completed a water line project in a certain neighborhood. Using records from that project, we could determine water service lines. Another tool we use is the records kept by our meter services crews.
In instances where we don’t have any records on a property, we use hydro excavation.
What is hydro excavation?
This process uses pressurized water to turn dirt into a slurry that is then vacuumed out. This does not affect the inside of your water line. We hydro excavate until we find the water service line and are able to determine what the material is. MCES is working to complete testing on the properties that have a water line considered “unknown.”