Service line inventory & lead awareness

Painesville’s drinking water is treated and delivered safely from our water plant and meets all state and federal standards. However, in some cases, water can absorb lead from older pipes as it travels from the main line into a home or building.

To address this, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires all public water systems to maintain a complete inventory of service lines—both public and private.

Since 2021, the Painesville Water Division has completed a comprehensive inventory of more than 11,000 service connections across the city to improve safety, transparency, and long-term infrastructure planning.

 

What is a service line?

A service line is the pipe that carries water from the main line in the street into your home or building.

There are two parts:

• Public service line: Maintained by the City (typically up to the curb stop or meter)
• Private service line: Owned and maintained by the property owner (from the curb stop into the building)

While most service lines in Painesville are not made of lead, some older private lines may still contain lead or galvanized materials.

Why this matters

Water leaving the treatment plant is free of lead.

Lead exposure can occur only if water passes through lead-containing pipes or plumbing materials on the way into a home.

Identifying service line materials helps:

• Protect public health
• Improve transparency
• Guide future infrastructure improvements

 

Check your service line

Residents can check the material of their service line at home.

Where to look:

• Basement or crawl space
• Near where the water line enters the home
• Typically the first 18 inches of pipe

What you’ll need:

• A coin or key
• A magnet

How to check:

• Scratch the pipe lightly with a coin or key
• Test whether a magnet sticks

Common results:

• Plastic: Various colors, no metallic sound
• Copper: Scratches to a bright, penny-like color; magnet does not stick
• Galvanized steel: Dull gray, hard surface; magnet sticks
• Lead: Dull gray, soft and easily scratched; magnet does not stick

If your results do not match the City’s records, please contact the Water Division.

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Service line inventory

The City maintains a public inventory of all service lines in the system.

Each line is classified as:

• Lead: Contains lead piping
• Galvanized Requiring Replacement (GRR): Galvanized pipe connected to or previously connected to lead
• Non-Lead: Confirmed safe materials such as copper or plastic
• Unknown: Material has not yet been verified