What can I find on this site?

This site provides information to help communities facilitate full lead service line replacement.

Getting Started

The roadmap poses a set of questions to help community leaders, elected officials, drinking water professionals, and public health professionals accelerate full lead service line replacement and tailor an initiative to local circumstances.  It also includes links to information and examples from other communities. This information will help a community get from the initial decision to remove lead service lines to a plan ready for implementation.

Read more detail about Getting Started in the Roadmap.

Replacement Practices

Replacement Practices provides tools and resources needed to successfully carry out a lead service line replacement initiative.  

​Practices range from such basic considerations as establishing a common language for the community to use, to more technical practices involved in the lead service line replacement process.​

​Read more detail about Replacement Practices.

Local and state initiatives

Policies identifies examples of state and local lead service line replacement initiatives and opportunities to consider to better support community efforts to find and replace lead service lines.

The Collaborative is not an advocacy organization, and the ideas described are not recommendations for policy changes.     

​Read more about Policies.

Learn about the Collaborative

The members of the LSLR Collaborative include associations representing drinking water utilities and professionals, public health professionals, state and local government agencies, environmental groups, and other public interest organizations from across the country who share the common goal of accelerating voluntary replacement of lead service lines. 
 
The Collaborative seeks to provide resources and tools for initiating and implementing full lead service line replacement. It also seeks to learn from communities undertaking lead service line replacement initiatives.  

Read more about about the Collaborative and provide feedback.

Why is LSL replacement important?

Even if your community has a water system with effective corrosion control and low drinking water lead levels, LSLs can contribute unpredictable and variable sources of exposure. For homes with LSLs, the service line typically contributes the greatest percentage of lead to the tap. 

This information provides an overview about the basics of lead service lines and the replacement process.

​Learn more with Introduction to Lead and LSL Replacement. 

LSLR Collaborative Webinar Series

Don't miss the Collaborative's webinar series on LSL replacement! Topics covered include: leveraging existing funding sources, partnerships between public health agencies and water utilities, counting & communicating about the number and location of LSLs, and more. 
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Check out our Webinars page to see all installments in the Collaborative's series and for external presentations as well. 

Where should I begin?

If you are not sure, select the category below that best represents your interests.
"Access to public water sources that are safe and reliable is crucial for the health and prosperity of a society." 
 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Highlights from the Collaborative & LSL News

LSL Replacement Webinar Series
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See all the webinars in the Collaborative's series: Collaborating to Replaces LSLs.

In December 2021, the Biden-Harris Administration announced the "Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan" setting a goal of full lead pipe replacement in a decade. Read the press statement.
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Case studies on LSL replacement
Learn from on-the-ground examples of state and local agencies, community groups, and other stakeholders tackling lead service line replacement challenges

​See the case examples. 
What's new in lead service line replacement news?
Check out the LSLR Collaborative's In the News page for articles highlighting action on LSLs, announcements from the Collaborative, and more.  

Have an idea for an article to add? Let us know!

Why is lead service line replacement important?

Even if your community has a water system with effective corrosion control and low drinking water lead levels, LSLs, the final link in the water infrastructure network that delivers water to your home, can contribute unpredictable and variable sources of exposure. For homes with LSLs, the service line typically contributes the greatest percentage of lead to the tap. With the reduction of lead in new plumbing material, the next large opportunity for reducing the risk of exposure to lead in drinking water is the removal of LSLs.
Why is lead a problem?
Young children, infants, and fetuses are particularly vulnerable to lead. A dose of lead that would have little effect on an adult can have a significant effect on a child. 
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How does lead get into drinking water?
Lead can enter drinking water when pipes and plumbing fixtures that contain lead corrode, especially where the water has high acidity or low mineral content. 
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What is full LSL replacement?
Full LSL replacement is eliminating all lead pipe from a water main up to the interior plumbing of an individual home and installing new pipe that is lead-free.
The Collaboration is not an advocacy organization. Its members may advocate for federal and state policy changes as individual organizations and not as representatives of the Collaborative.


​​​The Lead Service Line Replacement Collaborative encourages ongoing feedback on how to improve these tools and resources. Please provide feedback.