Drinking Water Service Lines
A service line is the pipe connecting a home or building to the Utility’s water main. Broward County Water and Wastewater Services (Broward County WWS) owns the pipe or service line from the main to the customer meter. The property owner owns the pipe or service line from the customer meter to the home. In our area, most of these service lines are made of plastic, galvanized iron, or copper. There are no lead service lines in our system. Lead is a naturally occurring element found in the earth’s crust. While it has some beneficial uses, it can be toxic to humans and animals, causing health effects. Lead can be found in all parts of our environment - the air, the soil, the water, and even in our homes. The most common sources of lead in drinking water are lead pipes, faucets and fixtures. For decades, Broward County WWS has been testing the water from representative homes and ensuring that lead levels remain below the Environmental Protection Agency’s action level. New regulations require that we prepare an inventory of the Utility owned service line material and the customer owned service line material for each property served with drinking water. There are currently nearly 60,000 lines within the Broward County WWS service areas and we have identified the material of each service line, with no lead service lines found.
See your service line material
Concerned about lead in your drinking water?
Learn basic information about sources of lead in drinking water, suggestions for reducing exposure and information about replacing lead service lines.
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Determining your Service Line Material
The easiest way to identify the customer owned pipe material and the utility owned pipe material is to start at the water meter box.
Look inside and identify the pipe leading to the home (this is the customer side pipe).
Identify the pipe leading to the street (this is the utility owned pipe).
Plastic – White, blue or black pipe that is joined to the water supply piping with a clamp.
Lead – A dull, silver-gray color that is scratched with a coin. Use a magnet – strong magnets will not cling to lead pipes.
Copper – The color of a copper penny.
Galvanized Steel – A dull, silver-gray color. Use a magnet – strong magnets will typically cling to galvanized pipes.
