About
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR) in January 2021 to mitigate health risks stemming from lead exposure in drinking water. Impacting all water distribution systems nationwide, the regulations require utilities for the first time to develop a comprehensive service line material inventory, implement new compliance sampling standards, and make the results publicly available. To meet the requirements of the LCRR, Howard County has launched the Service Line Stewardship Program (SLSP).
What is the Service Line Stewardship Program?
The Service Line Stewardship Program is a comprehensive approach to comply with the LCRR. The goal is to engage with our customers during every step of the compliance process, providing transparency, trust, and honest answers to your questions. As part of that commitment, we want to first assure our customers that the water provided by Howard County does not contain lead when it leaves the City of Baltimore and Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) water treatment facilities, which provide our drinking water. The water distributed to our customers consistently remains above state and federal regulatory standards. Importantly, the likelihood of finding lead service lines in our water distribution system is low, since Maryland prohibited lead water pipe construction in 1972.
One of the main goals of the Service Line Stewardship Program is to establish a complete service line material inventory. Although Maryland has not used lead as a piping material since 1972, there are still properties listed as having service lines made of an unknown material. We need your help in identifying these “unknowns” by taking a short survey and confirming the absence of lead to help complete our inventory.
Only customers with unknown service lines will be asked to take the self-reporting survey and will receive requests from the Service Line Stewardship Program via the mail when it is ready.
Service Line Material Inventory
The County recently completed the initial service line material inventory, which can be viewed via the interactive map linked below. Customers can search for their home either by zooming in or by entering the address in the upper left. Service line material is displayed as a split circle, with the left half-circle representing the County or utility-side material, and the right half-circle representing the customer-side material. Please note, if you live in an apartment building or condominium complex and/or otherwise do not directly receive a water bill from the County, there is only one “master” water meter circle representing the current inventory status for the entire building or complex.
What is a Service Line?
A service line is an underground pipe linking your home to the public water main, supplying water to faucets, bathtubs, showers, and other outlets. Click the link below to view an infographic on how to locate your service line.
