Water Quality

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) has completed the initial lead service line inventory required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (U.S. EPA) Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR). The deadline for the initial inventories is October 16, 2024. Following the completion of an historical records review and subsequent field investigations, LADWP has determined that there are no lead service lines or galvanized pipes requiring replacement service lines in its distribution system. This includes any privately-owned or customer-owned service lines.

LADWP reviewed all applicable sources of information, including:

• Available construction and plumbing codes to assess historical regulation of lead service line disallowance (e.g. National Lead Ban, State Code, County Codes, City Codes)
• Existing records or other documentation that indicates service line materials
• Water system records, including distribution system maps, Geographical Information System (GIS) data, drawings and historical capital improvement or master plans
• Distribution system records that indicate service line material, including inspections conducted during the course of normal operations (e.g., checking service line materials when performing maintenance activities)
• Resource, information, or identification methods provided or required by the State of California to assess service line materials including customer billing data and tax assessor records obtained from the Los Angeles County Assessor’s Office

In addition to the above sources of information, LADWP also used a stratified random sampling method approved by the State Water Resources Control Board Division of Drinking Water. This involves physically verifying a subset of randomly selected service lines in the distribution system. That subset is divided into groups based on certain characteristics (e.g., years the service lines were installed) in order to provide a more representative profile of the service lines. If no lead or galvanized pipes are discovered requiring replacement, the remaining service lines can be assumed to be non-lead with a certain level of confidence. LADWP conducted additional field inspections during normal operations, which reinforced these findings. In total LADWP inspected 41,813 service lines on the customer-side and were verified as non-lead service lines. No lead service lines, or galvanized requiring replacement service lines were identified.

In an effort to provide our customers with safe, high quality drinking water, LADWP will continue to document service line material information obtained from normal, day-to-day operations. This includes service line maintenance or water meter replacements, and the initial inventory will be updated accordingly.