• DOI:10.5942/jawwa.2016.108.0086
• Corpus ID: 112724961

National Survey of Lead Service Line Occurrence

@article{Cornwell2016NationalSO,
  title={National Survey of Lead Service Line Occurrence},
  author={David A. Cornwell and Richard A. Brown and Steve H. Via},
  journal={Journal ‐ American Water Works Association},
  year={2016},
  volume={108}
}

• D. Cornwell, Richard A. Brown, S. Via
• Published 1 April 2016
• Environmental Science
• Journal ‐ American Water Works Association

This article summarizes findings from two AWWA‐sponsored surveys of US community water systems (CWSs) that were conducted to gather information on lead‐containing service lines (LSLs) in different regions of the United States for different sizes (population ranges) of water systems. The major objective of this research was to estimate the number of water systems with LSLs and the approximate number of LSLs nationwide and by region. These estimates were ultimately extrapolated to state occurrence. The survey results indicated a national estimate of 6.1 million LSLs (either full or partial) currently present in CWSs of the United States, compared with 10.2 million estimated at the time of the original Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) (USEPA 1991); approximately 11,200 CWSs currently have LSLs compared with more than 15,000 estimated in the original LCR; 15 to 22 million people served by CWSs are estimated to have either a full or partial LSL serving their home out of a total population served by CWSs of about 293 million (7%); and approximately 30% of the CWSs surveyed (national average) reported having some LSLs in their system.