Lead in your water: what to do now

Where lead comes from

Lead rarely starts in the river or the well. It gets into water on the way to your glass, from lead service lines, lead solder and brass faucets and fittings. That's why the treatment plant can't fix it, and why your home's lead level can be very different from your neighbor's.

EPA and CDC agree there is no known safe level of lead in a child's blood. EPA set the health goal for lead in water at zero for that reason.

What to do today

These come from EPA and CDC, and they cost nothing:

• Use only cold water for drinking, cooking and baby formula. EPA says warm or hot water can draw more lead from pipes and fixtures, and CDC says the same.
• Run the tap when water has sat for hours. Lead builds up the longer water sits in the pipes. EPA says how long to run it depends on your service line, so ask your utility. Minnesota's health department gives numbers: at least 1 minute after six hours without use, or 3 to 5 minutes if a lead service line feeds the house. A shower, a load of laundry or the dishwasher does the flushing too.
• Don't boil it. EPA and CDC both say boiling does not remove lead.
• Clean the faucet aerator. EPA says sediment and lead particles collect in the screen at the tip of the faucet.

Showering is fine. EPA says human skin does not absorb lead in water.

Test your own tap

You can't see, taste or smell lead in water, so a test is the only way to know your own tap. Start with your utility; CDC says many test on request. Otherwise, your state or local drinking water program lists certified labs, and EPA puts the cost at $20 to $100.

Don't count on it being free. Under the rule in force now, a utility has to offer to sample a customer's tap only after it exceeds the action level, and it isn't required to pay.

Test sooner if a baby, a child or a pregnant person drinks the water. EPA says formula-fed infants can get 40 to 60 percent of their lead exposure from water, and CDC says lead can pass from a mother to her unborn baby. A pediatrician can test a child's blood for lead.

Find out what your service line is made of

The service line is the pipe between the water main and your house. Every utility had to inventory its service lines by October 16, 2024, and make that inventory public. Systems serving more than 50,000 people must put it online, and the annual water quality report has to say where to find it. Utilities with lead or unknown lines must also notify the homes they serve.

If your utility has no record, EPA suggests asking a licensed plumber. CDC suggests asking the utility whether any program helps pay to replace a lead line.

Pick a filter certified for lead

If you filter, the certification that matters is NSF/ANSI 53 with a lead reduction claim. EPA's filter tool looks for a claim that reduces lead to 5 ppb or less, and recommends also checking for an NSF/ANSI 42 Class I particulate claim, since some particles carry lead. CDC says the certification should show both. A 42 claim on its own is not a lead claim.

Two more rules from EPA: don't run hot water through the filter, and replace the cartridge on time, because an expired one removes less lead.

A whole-house filter isn't the answer here. EPA says water can pick up lead from your home's own pipes after a whole-house unit, and on October 4, 2026 no whole-house system was listed for lead by NSF or WQA. See lead for filters with a lead claim on a certifier's listing.

For baby formula, CDC says certified bottled water can virtually eliminate lead exposure from water, though it may not be the most cost-effective option for the long term.

What your utility's lead number means

Your utility's report gives one lead number: the 90th percentile. The utility ranks its tap samples from lowest to highest and reports the one at the 90 percent mark. In plain terms, nine in ten homes sampled were at or below it, and up to one in ten were higher.

Utilities are told to sample the homes most likely to have lead, such as those with lead service lines. Still, the number describes the system, not your house. The required report language itself says the utility can't control the plumbing materials in your home.

The action level is 15 ppb today. It isn't a safety line; it's the point that triggers more corrosion control, public education and replacement work.

What changes in 2027

Under EPA's Lead and Copper Rule Improvements, published October 30, 2024, the lead action level drops to 10 ppb on November 1, 2027. From then, utilities must replace the lead service lines under their control within 10 years, offer to test the tap of anyone served by a lead or unknown line, and provide certified filters after replacing a line. As of October 4, 2026, EPA's own pages still give that date, and no rule changing it has appeared in the Federal Register.

To see your utility's lead results and anything else EPA's data shows: