Scope of Lead Service Line Issue
In 2016, two AWWA-sponsored surveys of US community water systems (CWSs) were conducted to gather information on lead‐containing service lines (LSLs) in different regions of the United States for different sizes (population ranges) of water systems. The major objective of this research was to estimate the number of water systems with LSLs and the approximate number of LSLs nationwide and by region.
The survey results indicated:
- a national estimate of 6.1 million LSLs (either full or partial) currently present in CWSs of the United States,
- approximately 11,200 CWSs currently have LSLs
- 15 to 22 million people served by CWSs are estimated to have either a full or partial LSL serving their home out of a total population served by CWSs of about 293 million (7%); and approximately 30% of the CWSs surveyed (national average) reported having some LSLs in their system.