In the past, public water systems only kept an inventory of public water service lines. In an effort to address lead in drink water, in 2021 the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Lead and Cooper Rule (LCR) was established to require water systems to keep an inventory of all service lines, both public and private. The goal of this initiative is to improve water infrastructure safety and reliability, and to ensure compliance with national regulations. Since 2021, the Painesville Water Department has worked tirelessly on a complete service line inventory of over 11,500 connections bringing water from the main lines to individual properties. 

 

What is a Service Line?

Drinking water is free of lead when it leaves our water plant. However, water can absorb lead if it travels through lead pipes on its way to your faucet. The majority of Painesville water pipes are free of lead but lead lines still exist, specifically in private service lines. 

Service lines carry water into your home from the water system's water pipe or main. The service line in its entirety, from the street to a building or home, is generally considered a private service line (owned by the customer). 

Image credit: EPA
    • Public Service Lines refer to the system-owned water lines, or what the Painesville Water Department is responsible for (typically before the meter vault or curb stop)
    • Private Service Lines refer to the customer-owned water lines, or what the property owner is responsible for (after the meter vault or curb stop)

 

Check Your Line

To check what material your service line is connecting your property to the main, you will need to locate your service line entrance. Typically this is located in a utility room on the lowest level of your home (basement) or a crawl space. You are looking for the first 18 inches of pipe to enter the property. If you have an indoor water meter, it might be on this pipe.

You will need a coin and a magnet for conduct your test. 

  1. Scratch the pipe with a coin or key to see if the scraped area is silver-coated and shiny
  2. Check to see if a magnet sticks to the pipe.
  3. Record your results and contact the Painesville Water Department if you believe the inventory spreadsheet to be inaccurate.

Results:

    • Plastic: plastic pipes are found in a variety of materials and colors. When tapped with a coin, they won't produce a ringing sound
    • Copper: When scratched, the pipe is made of copper if it becomes orange and shiny like a penny. A magnet will not stick to it
    • Galvanized Steel: If the pipe is silvery gray and hard to scratch, place a magnet on it. If the magnet sticks, it is galvanized steel or iron
    • Lead: If the pipe is silvery gray and 1) easily scratched and 2) the metal seems soft and 3) a magnet doesn't stick to it, it is most likely a lead pipe 

 

Painesville's Service Line Inventory

Below is a link to the current inventory list of all service lines in the Painesville Water system. The inventory includes all service lines, regardless of the actual or intended use. Service lines are classified into four definitions:

    • Lead: a portion of the pipe that is made of lead, which connects the water main to the building inlet
    • Galvanized Requiring Replacement (GRR): a galvanized service line that is or ever was downstream of an LSL or is currently downstream of an unknown service line
    • Non-Lead: the service line is determined not to be lead or GRR through an evidence based record, method or technique (examples include plastic, cooper or galvanized pipe) 
    • Unknown: the service line material is not known to be a lead, GRR or non-lead, such as where there is no documented evidence supporting material classification

 

Painesville, Ohio Water Service Line Inventory OH4301611 UPDATED