Lead Pipe Data Map Offers Sharp New Tool

A clickable map based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency survey data shows the location of dangerous lead water service lines. Graphic: Natural Resources Defense Council.

Reporter’s Toolbox: Lead Pipe Data Map Offers Sharp New Tool

By Joseph A. Davis

Lead in drinking water is a serious problem all over the United States. Now, the Natural Resources Defense Council has put up the best map yet to show just where the problems are.

Whether you want the local or the national perspective, this data map looks to be the most current and detailed available.

We care about lead in drinking water because it is a neurotoxin that robs children of IQ points and causes a host of other health problems, even in adults.

 

What you didn’t hear

as often is that lead pipes in

water systems are a serious

problem in all 50 states.

 

You may remember the outrage about Flint, Michigan’s water system back in 2014. What you didn’t hear as often is that lead pipes in water systems are a serious problem in all 50 states.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency updated its Lead and Copper Rule in October 2024 — the last months of the Biden administration. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of November 2021, meanwhile, committed $15 billion to fund the replacement of lead service lines that take water from mains to individual buildings (the main source of the problem).

 

Where the data comes from

Drinking water systems are now required to determine where their lead service lines are and report to the EPA. The problem is that they were put in decades ago without good records.

The good news is that we now know where most of them are. But hardly all. So, much of the data comes from the EPA as utilities report in. Ultimately, all the data comes from the EPA.

The map not only tallies known lead service lines — but also service lines whose metal composition is unknown or estimated.

To produce the map, NRDC contracted with a private-sector data analytics firm, BlueConduit. To its credit, NRDC has documented its whole methodology thoroughly.

To look at the data, go here.

 

How to use the data smartly

What NRDC adds to the data is the mapping. That allows you to zoom in or out depending on your focus: local, state or national. Utility service areas do not always follow municipal boundaries.

One of the nifty features NRDC gives you is the ability to add multiple overlays to the map as you use it. Less nifty is the fact that you have to discover the tiny icons in the top-left and top-right corners of the map to manipulate map layers.

 

You can see how bad the

lead pollution is estimated

to be by various criteria.

 

Not only can you select the map location or scale, but you can see how bad the lead pollution is estimated to be by various criteria — always with an emphasis on health consequences.

Niftiest of all (Toolbox thinks) is the overlay that shows lead pipes by congressional districts. Have you called your congressperson lately?

Remember, the data is imperfect (although as good as possible). The numbers alone are hardly the whole story.

Talk to the water customers about their lead awareness and ability to pay for service line replacement. Talk to utilities about their plans and problems regarding pipe replacement. Talk to state and EPA/state regulators. Ask your congressperson how budget cuts will affect funding for this critical work.

[Editor’s Note: SEJournal has published numerous stories in recent years about the lead poisoning problem, including TipSheets on funding to find and replace lead pipes, policy development on lead pipes, the challenge of tracing lead lines and congressional infrastructure plans, along with Backgrounders on environmental justice and the widespread problem of lead in the water supply, and on a nationwide investigative report. On the Flint crisis, SEJournal also offered an analysis on its lessons, and interviewed the physician instrumental in exposing the crisis, as well as reviewed her book, along with an earlier volume on the “Lead Wars.” For recent headlines, search EJToday for lead in water and lead pipes.]

Joseph A. Davis is a freelance writer/editor in Washington, D.C. who has been writing about the environment since 1976. He writes SEJournal Online's TipSheet, Reporter's Toolbox and Issue Backgrounder, and curates SEJ's weekday news headlines service EJToday and @EJTodayNews. Davis also directs SEJ's Freedom of Information Project and writes the WatchDog opinion column.

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* From the weekly news magazine SEJournal Online, Vol. 10, No. 25. Content from each new issue of SEJournal Online is available to the public via the SEJournal Online main page. Subscribe to the e-newsletter here. And see past issues of the SEJournal archived here.