Lead pipe replacement for safer drinking water

Look at the pipe where it enters the property, usually near the internal stopcock. Lead is dull grey, unpainted, soft enough to mark with a coin, and its joints are rounded swellings rather than threaded fittings. Tapping it gives a dull thud rather than a metallic ring. If the property was built before 1970 and the supply has never been renewed, lead is a real possibility — we can confirm it during a survey.

Lead in water is colourless, tasteless and gives no visual clue at all, so appearance tells you nothing. Lead dissolves into water standing in the pipe, which is why concentrations are highest first thing in the morning or after a period away. The health risk is well established, particularly for young children and during pregnancy, and the current UK limit is 10 micrograms per litre.

We would strongly advise against it. Cutting into lead disturbs the scale inside it, and replacing part of a run can increase lead concentrations in the section left in service for a period afterwards — the opposite of what you are paying for. We replace the full private length, from the public–private boundary to the internal stopcock, and cap off the old run, so no lead is left carrying your water.

The supply pipe from the public–private boundary to your building is private pipework and the responsibility of the property it supplies, so that section is at your cost. The communication pipe on the water company’s side is theirs — and many water companies will replace their section when a customer replaces theirs. It is always worth asking them before the work is booked.

Usually not. We use trenchless impact moling wherever ground conditions allow, which draws the new pipe underground between two small pits and leaves everything between them untouched. Where the ground will not take a mole — heavy clay with obstructions, made ground full of rubble, or a route crowded with other services — we will say so before starting, and any excavation is fully reinstated.

A straightforward domestic replacement is commonly a one-day job where the route can be moled and the connection is simple. Longer runs, difficult ground, a highway crossing or a new connection application will extend that. We give you the expected duration after the survey, once the route and the method are actually known.

The new run is flushed thoroughly before handover, and once the private lead is gone the source of the exposure is gone with it. If the water company’s communication pipe is still lead, some risk remains on that section until they renew it — which is why we tell you what is on their side as well as yours.