Check Your Pipes, KY

Overview

Check Your Pipes, KY is an initiative to assist water utilities and homeowners reduce the risk of lead exposure in drinking water. The EPA has a new regulation that requires water systems to find lead pipes and make a plan to remove them. On this page you will find a series of resources to help water professionals, customers, and decision-makers understand the risks of lead and what can be done to protect drinking water sources.

Communications Toolkit

The Kentucky Division of Water has developed the Check Your Pipes, KY, outreach campaign for use by public water systems to help publicize their lead remediation efforts and educate stakeholders. The Communications Toolkit includes:

Check Your Pipes KY website: a guide for the general public about lead in drinking water and lead service line inventories
Test your service line video
Logos
Infographics
Brochures
Social media posts
Rack Cards, Post Cards, and Door Hangers

Water utilities are encouraged to customize these resources and share them with customers and community decision makers to improve public understanding of the issues surrounding lead in drinking water. For assistance with these resources, please reach out to (Cortni Edwards (cortni.edwards@ky.gov)).

Click the image above to go to the Communications Tool Kit

About Lead

Lead is one of the contaminants that drinking water utilities test for regularly, as its health impacts are serious. The water provided by drinking water utilities is lead-free. Lead enters drinking water when plumbing materials that contain lead corrode, especially where the water has high acidity or low mineral content that corrodes pipes and fixtures. The most common sources of lead in drinking water are lead pipes, faucets, and fixtures. In homes with lead pipes that connect the home to the water main, also known as lead services lines, these pipes are typically the most significant source of lead in the water. Lead pipes are more likely to be found in older cities and homes.

History of Regulating Lead in Drinking Water

The first major rule regulating lead in drinking water was the 1991 Lead and Copper Rule of the Safe Drinking Water Act, but water systems were monitoring and removing lead long before that. In 2021 a new revision was released – the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR). These new revisions require that water systems do more to reduce lead in drinking water. The new requirements will be phased in over time, starting in 2024.

New EPA Lead and Copper Rule Revision (LCRR)

The 2021 rule revisions require that water systems start doing several things they haven’t done before. Many of these actions will have additional costs and will require water systems to collaborate with more stakeholders than they have done in the past. The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) does allocate additional funds for lead pipe identification and replacement, but these funds may not be sufficient to address all the expenses.

The new rules require that Public Water Systems complete the following:

Service Line Inventory
Service Line Replacement
Tap Sampling
School and Childcare Center Sampling
Water Treatment
Public Education

For more information about the specific requirements of the new LCRR, visit the Check Your Pipes, KY: LCRR Requirements website.

EPA’s Fact Sheet for Developing and Maintaining a Service Line Inventory

Funding

The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) provides funds to water systems to find and remove lead service lines in the form of low-interest loans and forgivable loans. For more information, contact the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority. These funds are available until fiscal year 2026.

The new requirements also necessitate additional costs that aren't covered by the BIL funds. Drinking water systems may want to leverage other funds to help with these costs. Follow the links for other sources of funding for lead remediation:

Drinking Water System Funding:

Funding Fact Sheet

EPA:

More Resources

EPA Lead Resources

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Lead website contains information relating to all potential exposure routes for lead, and what communities can do to address these issues.

EPA Protect Your Tap

The EPA's Protect Your Tap guide will help you determine if you have a lead service line bringing water into your home. It uses pictures, step-by-step directions to identify lead service lines, provides tips to reduce lead exposure, information on testing your water, and resources to learn more .

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

The CDC's Lead in Drinking Water resource page contains information about the risks of lead and steps that you should consider to help reduce exposure.