Priority 1
Commit to eliminating lead pipes in 10 years
Establish strong leadership and set a vision to fully replace lead pipes within 10 years.
Key Action 1/3
Make a public commitment
Proactive engagement from local elected officials is a key piece to accelerating lead pipe replacement across the country to meet the 10-year deadline. Mayors in cities like Newark, Benton Harbor, and Madison have led the way in getting the lead out.
Make a public commitment to eliminate lead pipes in the next 10 years
Make a public commitment to eliminate lead pipes in the next 10 years to show your residents that you are dedicated to protecting their health and to support your water utility staff - no matter where they are in the lead service line replacement process.
Leverage the power of shared learning platforms
There is power in coalition – learning from other communities that have seen positive results is the first step to exploring what success can look like in your community.
Set intentions with your proposed budget
Mayors can use their proposed budgets to highlight their intention to implement a lead pipe replacement program in their communities.
Develop a communications campaign
Develop a communications campaign to inform, engage, and empower residents. Some strategies can include:
- Press statements and press events
- Announcements on the city’s website
- QR codes and flyers
- Social media posts and podcasts
- Direct mailers
- Town hall meetings and community meetings at schools, libraries, community centers, and local parks
- Use of existing community media and communications networks, such as the community-led radio program in Benton Harbor
- Front door hangers
- Canvassing by youth or other groups
- Digital boards and yard signs (visuals)
- Commercials
- Agreements with television and radio stations for a city-wide commitment campaign, such as Toledo Ohio’s #419GETTHELEADOUT
Learn more about the role of coalitions, like the Great Lakes Lead Pipes Partnership, a first-of-its-kind mayor-led partnership designed to create shared learnings and replicate successes (participating mayors: Detroit, Chicago and Milwaukee).
Newark, NJ’s “Newark Way of Thinking and Drinking” is an interactive communications campaign that provides informative messaging such as puzzles, coloring sheets, paper boats, and fun at-home water-based science projects to spark conversations between children and their parents.
Learn more about mayors that have made public commitments.
Key Action 2/3
Identify key partners and roles
Implementing an effective program requires extensive planning, coordination, and engagement with numerous stakeholders throughout the process while considering your communities’ specific needs. Identifying key partners, their roles, and how they can help is vital to ensure your program is set up for success.
Rely on your water utility staff’s expertise
Rely on your water utility staff’s expertise in maintaining and upgrading water infrastructure, and ensuring compliance with local, state, and federal regulations such as the EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule. Utilities play an essential role in every aspect of lead service line replacement including:
- Conducting lead pipe inventories and replacements
- Selecting the material of the new service lines
- Providing water quality metrics and data
- Outsourcing contracts to plumbers and construction companies
- Providing labor to replace lead pipes
- Securing funding
Engage with community-based organizations
Engage with community-based organizations to build trust and learn about your community’s unique needs and challenges. Partnering with trusted organizations enables you to genuinely understand your community and more effectively reach those who are disproportionately impacted, ensuring that all voices are heard (see Involve your community). Equity should be the cornerstone of any replacement program.
Coordinate with local public health departments
Coordinate with local public health departments and health professionals to improve your community’s health and wellbeing through prevention, education, intervention, and community engagement. Public health awareness campaigns can help:
- Communicate the health impacts associated with lead exposure
- Educate the community on what measures they can take to reduce their risk of lead exposure, including proper use of filters and when water should not be boiled (not an effective measure to remove lead)
- Assess lead exposure risks through data-driven analyses
- Prioritize replacement in areas with vulnerable populations, such as childcare facilities, schools, expecting families, and disproportionately impacted areas
Lean on your administrative staff
Lean on your administrative staff to assist with cross-departmental collaboration, contractor management, and asset management activities and software platforms, each of which maximizes operational efficiency. To ensure accountability and mayoral input on decisions that may be politically sensitive, designate a single point of contact within the mayor’s office (e.g., a business administrator or chief of staff).
Leverage your relationships with city managers, planners, and council
Leverage your relationships with city managers, planners, and council to implement important pieces of your replacement program.
Connect with your local workforce
Connect with your local workforce through labor unions, which can help establish a workforce apprenticeship program and create good paying jobs in your community. Also consider connecting with retired plumbers on their experience.
Consider unconventional partnerships
- Engineering consultants can provide technical expertise, help navigate the permitting process, and connect you with contractors to get the work done.
- Local housing agencies can play an important role in engaging landlords to replace lead pipes at rental properties.
The Unique Case of Investor-Owned Utilities
Start a conversation: Ask the right questions to make key program decisions
Lead Service Line Replacement Collaborative: Identifying Partners
Key Action 3/3
Ensure full lead pipe replacement
The recently finalized Lead and Copper Rule Improvements require full lead pipe replacement in most cases starting in 2027 and discourages problematic partial replacements. A partial replacement occurs when the utility replaces the portion of the pipe on public property and not the section that runs under private property, typically because of shared ownership of the line. Partial replacements can increase lead levels, exposing residents to higher levels of lead in their drinking water.
To complete a full lead service line replacement, including the customer portion of the line, water systems must gain access to private property. It is a critical part of a mayor’s role to remove barriers that may preclude a water utility from gaining access and therefore control to replace the lead service line in its entirety, particularly when facing unresponsive customers or absentee landlords.
Prohibit partial replacements
Prohibit partial replacements in your community to reduce the risk of exposure to increased lead levels in drinking water and ensure compliance with the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (2027 compliance date).
Remove barriers for the utility to access properties requiring LSL replacement
Remove barriers for the utility to access properties requiring lead service line replacement. The Lead and Copper Rule Improvements require water systems to replace the entire lead pipe as long as it is under their “control,” meaning they have legal and physical access. Mayors can play a critical role in removing barriers that may preclude a water utility from gaining access to private property, and therefore replacing the lead service line in its entirety, particularly when facing unresponsive customers or absentee landlords by:
- Ensuring the utility can access private property for the purposes of replacing the customer-owned portion of the line. While state or local law may grant access to the water utility (e.g., for inspections), the property owner typically must provide consent to replace the lead service line, usually by signing a formal access form.
- Allowing tenants to provide consent to replace the lead service line if the landlord is not present (see Engage homeowners and renters on replacement).
Develop a communications strategy
Develop a communications strategy that highlights the importance of replacing lead pipes and urges residents to provide access and consent to the water utility when they are present in the neighborhood.
Model ordinance language requiring full lead service line replacement and granting property access: Model Lead Service Line Ordinance
Examples of local mandates requiring full lead service line replacement
- City of Newark, NJ ordinance mandating lead service line replacement
- Wisconsin ordinances requiring mandatory LSL replacements
Examples of legislation granting utilities property access
- City of Newark, NJ ordinance authorizing utilities to access properties and enabling renters to grant consent where owners are unresponsive (same ordinance as above)
- State of Indiana Bill allowing water utilities to access properties to conduct replacements