Water Service Inventory Program
The Water Service Inventory Program, or Water SIP, aims to proactively comply with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR), which were issued in 2021. Part of the revised rule is to submit an inventory of the service lines in the Anne Arundel County water distribution system, carry out water sampling, and provide customers with public education materials.
A service line is an underground pipe that connects your home to the public water main, delivering water to faucets, bathtubs, showers, and other fixtures.
It can typically be seen where it enters your home in the basement or crawl space.
No. A primary purpose of the LCRR is simply to identify the material of all water service lines to enhance customer awareness. Identifying out-of-date materials, including lead, is the first step toward eliminating them from the distribution system.
Please call Customer Relations at 410-222-7582 or email watersip@aacounty.org for assistance.
No. If your water is not supplied by the County, you do not need to take the survey. For questions about your water quality, please contact your private water company.
No. The program does not impact the cost of water.
All information can be found on the program webpage.
Water Quality
Lead is seldom found as a natural contaminant in drinking water and generally originates from lead-based plumbing materials. Lead can enter drinking water when plumbing materials containing lead corrode over time. These materials include pipes made of lead, lead-based solder used to join copper pipe, and brass and chrome-plated brass faucets. Lead service lines are typically the most significant source of lead in the water. In Anne Arundel County, these materials are more likely to be found in homes built before 1937, as lead was prohibited in the construction of service lines in 1936.
Not necessarily. All lead service lines have the potential to leach lead into drinking water, but the water chemistry in the distribution system is carefully managed at treatment facilities to prevent this from happening.
Anne Arundel County will assist in flushing the line following replacement and can provide follow-up sampling to ensure there is no longer lead coming from the service line serving the home.
Refer to information on the EPA website for ways to reduce potential for lead exposure through drinking water.
Service Line Inventory Survey
The portion of the water service line between your water meter and your home was not installed by the County, so there is limited information about the material used. The LCRR requires an inventory of the entire service line, including the portion owned by the customer. By validating the material of your service line, you are helping to comply with the regulation as well as identifying any outdated service line materials.
No. Only properties with a service line listed as being made from an unknown material are being asked to complete the survey.
The addresses in the self-reporting tool are based on the billing address in the County’s system. You will not see your address if your property is not directly billed by the County for water. These are typically properties that are part of condominiums, office parks and some multifamily developments. In these cases, you can reach out to the property manager, homeowners association, or condo association to identify the property address for water billing to check the survey status. If you are directly billed by the County and do not see your address, please call Customer Relations at 410-222-7582 or email watersip@aacounty.org so we can investigate the issue.
Once the survey is launched, an inventory map on the Water SIP webpage allows you to lookup your home address and check if your service line is listed as unknown. Unknown service lines are typically at older homes constructed prior to 1937.
Refer to the instructions linked below for navigating the map
Instructions for identifying your service line material using a simple scratch and magnet test can be found on the Survey section of the Water SIP webpage.
This is a simple method to identify the material of service lines by scratching the pipe to determine the color and checking if a magnet sticks to the pipe. Instructions on how to conduct the test and interpret results are provided on the Survey section of the Water SIP webpage. When carrying out the test, note that copper pipe can have shiny silver solder, be sure to scratch the pipe itself and not the solder.
Validated service line material information will be added to the inventory submitted to the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE). Service lines constructed using outdated materials will be flagged for replacement.
No. Personal information will not be shared. Only public information regarding your service line material will be available on the inventory map and submitted to MDE. This information includes the verified service line material, date of construction, and physical address. Responses will only be used for the purpose of complying with the LCRR.
First, do not panic. If you determine you have a lead service line, notify the County. Although lead service lines have the potential to leach lead into drinking water, the water chemistry in the Anne Arundel County distribution system is carefully managed to prevent this from happening. This means that lead may not necessarily be in the drinking water even if the service line is made from lead.
Replacement is only necessary if one of the following conditions is met:
- The service line was constructed with lead
- If the service line is galvanized and is either currently, or was previously, downstream of a lead service line – also known as galvanized requiring replacement (GRR)
Galvanized pipes are iron pipes that have been dipped in a protective zinc coating to prevent corrosion and rust and were commonly used for service lines. Galvanized pipes can capture lead released from upstream lead service lines, which can be released into the home, requiring their replacement and resulting in their categorization as galvanized requiring replacement, or GRR.
No. Only galvanized service lines that are currently or were potentially previously downstream of a lead service line will need to be replaced.
We are actively assessing the potential cost implications of complying with LCRR as well as the potential contractors and plumbers that may be needed for replacements. The results of this assessment will be included in a service line replacement plan that will be shared with our customers upon completion.
Replacement of water service lines will require a temporary interruption of water service to remove the existing service line, install the new service line, and connect to the new service line. This interruption will be kept to as short a duration as possible and will be no longer than eight hours.
Water line replacements typically take between one to four hours to complete. Materials approved by the County plumbing code will be used to replace the service line.
Water line replacements often do result in property disturbance. However, this is kept to a minimum. The contractor and/or plumber will be required to restore the property back to pre-construction condition at no extra cost to the customer.