The water treated by the Washington Aqueduct for and delivered to property owners in the District of Columbia meets all Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirements under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). The water contains extremely low levels of lead (less than 2 parts per billion).

The EPA requires all water utilities, including WASA, to sample and test for lead and copper concentrations in customer’s homes. Customers who participate in the sampling program are volunteers who have single family residences that are served by either lead services, internal lead plumbing, or copper pipes with lead solder before its use was banned in 1986.

In recent months these sample tests, as well as more comprehensive tests undertaken by WASA, indicate some, but not all, households with lead service lines may have a higher lead concentration than previously experienced. Approximately 23,000 properties, about 15% of our customer households, have lead service lines based on our records. It is very unlikely that any buildings that are larger than a single-family home (schools, other public buildings, for example) will have been built with these service lines because construction materials for larger facilities were different.

WASA, as required by federal regulation, notifies residents at the identified property that they may experience an increase of lead levels in their drinking water. Special efforts will continue to be made to address the needs of lead service lines about this issue.

WASA is encouraging customers to contact its Lead Services Hotline at (202) 787-2732 or WQP2003@dcwasa.com if you have questions about whether a lead service line serves your home. Our Lead Services Hotline is available from 7am - 7pm, Monday to Friday and 9am - 5pm Saturday and Sunday. WASA will provide a free testing kit upon request to customers. WASA will forward the test kit to a customer within two days and once the test is complete free pick-up can be scheduled by calling the Lead Services Hotline at (202) 787-2732 and test results will be available within 30 days.