Lead pipes
Lead in your environment
Lead particles are present in car exhausts and old paintwork, as well as natural sources such as food, air, soil and water. Exposure to high levels of lead can be harmful to health.
When the water leaves our treatment works it contains virtually no lead. However, if you have a lead service pipe or internal plumbing, small amounts of lead may dissolve in the water when passing.
The service pipe joins our water main to your property. This is divided into two parts:
- The communication pipe - owned by us
- The supply pipe - owned by you
Our communication pipe starts at the water main and usually runs to the edge of the public highway. Your supply pipe usually runs from the edge of the public highway and ends at your inside stop valve.
Lead in our region
As the water in our region is hard, limescale builds up within the pipes preventing the breakdown of lead. As a result, lead levels are low. In addition, we add a small amount of phosphate to most of our water, which acts like limescale, further minimising lead levels.
We monitor lead levels regularly by taking samples from randomly selected customers' properties. Less than one per cent of these samples exceed the regulatory limits.
