Hal Losey had known for years that the water service line to his Berkley home contained lead.

"You can see it’s got a bulge on it, that’s one key that it’s a lead pipe," Losey says, referring to a photograph he snapped of the service line in his basement prior to its removal. The bulge, commonly known as a wiped joint, is one of few telltale signs of a lead or partially lead pipe.

In October, Losey's brother and fellow Berkley resident told him about a new citywide lead service line program he'd heard about that offered removal and replacement at no cost. Upon contacting the city, Losey was placed on a waiting list. Roughly two months later, a contractor was sent to remove his lead service line and replace it with copper – at no cost to him.

The program in Berkley is one of many lead service line replacement efforts currently underway across Michigan as cities rush to meet the state's deadline of full lead water line removal by 2041.

Service lines – the thin pipes that connect city water mains to individual properties – usually run from curb to building, according to a presentation by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, or EGLE. Historically, maintaining and replacing them has been the burden of the property owner.

That changed when a slew of legislation passed in 2018 following the Flint water crisis, including a new version of the Michigan Lead and Copper Rule, or LCR. The rule was updated to help reduce Michiganders’ risk for exposure to lead in their drinking water, and it mandates that any lines containing lead must be replaced at the expense of the water supplier by 2041.

According to a 2020 inventory performed by EGLE, 4% of water service lines in the state contain known lead. An additional 7% are “likely lead,” and 12% are made of unknown material. A secondary inventory is due in 2025.

The updated LCR requires city water departments to develop their own plans for replacing the lines within the set time frame. In some cities, the replacements are set to occur in pre-determined waves, with homeowners receiving a mailed notice in advance of the scheduled service.

But in other cities, like Berkley,  homeowners may need to inspect their own service lines and contact their water supplier to schedule a replacement – a process that can seem intimidating to the average homeowner.

Elin Betanzo, a former EPA water engineer and founder of the Safe Water Engineering consulting firm, says identifying lead service lines isn't always as straightforward as it was for Losey.

"There's a short segment of pipe you can see in your basement or crawl space. It’s between either the wall or the floor and your first shut-off valve. If you see a bulge, then you’ve got a lead service line – it's obvious," Betanzo says.

"But there are many scenarios in which you can still have a lead pipe and it (may not be) nearly as obvious. That is because there are some lead pipe connectors that don’t have a wiped joint, so you don’t have that bulge. So using a magnet and a scratch test is another option to help you find out if it’s lead."

The test to which Betanzo refers is a classic way to test for lead: if a magnet fails to stick to the pipe and the pipe is gray-colored when scratched with a coin or tool, the pipe is made of lead.

But an absence of lead in the interior plumbing of a home may not be indicative of what the exterior service line is made of, Betanzo says.

"Somebody who was renovating the home might have said, ‘Oh, I see that lead pipe, I want to sell this house and I don’t want anyone to be worried about a lead pipe, so let’s just replace what’s visible,'" she says. "So if you don’t see lead, but you have a home of a certain age, you might want to do some additional investigation to be absolutely certain that you don’t have a lead pipe all the way through."

Betanzo says homeowners who are unsure about the presence of lead in their plumbing often resort to water sample testing, but the tests can be inconclusive if they are not performed properly.

"Lead released in water is sporadic," she says. "You're pulling the first liter of water that’s been in contact with that faucet, so you’re going to get water that’s been sitting in the faucet. So the first liter isn’t telling you what water quality is in contact with your lead service line."

A more robust test requires sampling 10 liters of stagnant water, meaning that no water can be used in the home the night prior to testing, explains Betanzo. While this method is more likely to pick up on lead leaching from the service line, homeowners may be better served by contacting their water supplier directly to see if plumbing records are available.

"Under the Michigan Lead and Copper Rule, water systems are required to notify residents that have lead service lines, and any time (customers) open a new account they should be told what their service line is made of," she says. 

"This is information people deserve. It's important to know that it’s required; people are supposed to have access to this."

While waiting for scheduled replacement, Betanzo recommends that property owners utilize filters to remove lead from their water prior to using it for drinking, cooking or bathing.

"If every drop of water that’s coming into your house is passing through a lead pipe, it’s really not worth the risk of drinking it, especially if you have young children in the home," she says. "Any time you’re consuming any water in the home it should all be filtered."

Boiling water will not remove lead; in fact, it "actually concentrates lead," Betanzo says.

Property owners who opt to have their service lines replaced should expect the process to take about four hours, according to EGLE. Contractors will require access to the property's water meter and will need to dig up a large portion of the property and possibly the street. Residents can inquire with their water providers regarding what, if any, repairs to their property will be included after the process is complete.

For Losey, the inconvenience was minor.

"It went very smooth," he says. "They pulled the old lead pipe out and replaced it with copper all the way out to the street. They actually dug up part of the street to replace it. It was seamless."

Lauren Wethington is a breaking news reporter. You can email her at LGilpin@freepress.com or find her on Twitter at @laurenelizw1.Lead water service lines are being replaced across Michigan.