After purchasing a century-old Victorian home in Dunkirk, New York, Kathryn Pilgrim tried to reduce any chance of lead exposure. As the Associated Press reported, she replaced interior pipes she believed might contain lead and added a kitchen filter built to remove heavy metals.
Even so, the special education teacher and colon cancer survivor still doesn't know whether the buried pipe linking her house to the city water supply is made of lead. Many other residents are in the same situation.
Here's what to know
According to an AP report, Dunkirk is one of more than 1,300 public water systems the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cited for missing the October 2024 deadline to file an inventory of water lines that could be introducing lead into Americans' drinking water.
The missing filings involve about 6,300 water systems that together serve 3.8 million Americans.
These inventories are supposed to guide the removal of dangerous pipes. Without them, residents may be left unsure whether their water is threatened, and utilities lose time before the 2027 replacement schedule, which gives most drinking water providers 10 years to eliminate lead lines.
Lead is a neurotoxin associated with developmental harm in children, lower IQ, and higher blood pressure in adults. The EPA estimates that roughly 4 million homes and businesses are still served by lead pipes.
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Pilgrim described it this way: "I just thought there was some stuff in the water that might not be great."
More background
Older communities in New York and across the country face a problem because lead service lines were widely installed from the late 1800s through the 1950s. AP reporting says Buffalo's records show 45% of service lines are lead, while Fredonia reports 28%.
Utilities also face poor documentation. Records are often missing or difficult to read, about 3,500 water systems reported their service-line material as unknown, and nationwide around one in five lines has been logged that way.
When homeowners do not know whether their property is connected to a probable contamination source, they cannot make fully informed choices. The same gap makes it harder for cities to plan replacement work.
Joshua Klainberg, senior vice president with the New York League of Conservation Voters, said it is "unforgivable" for a system to fail to submit even an incomplete inventory.
What's being done?
The EPA said it shifted to enforcement after attempts to help water systems meet the requirement didn't succeed. Rob Hayes, a senior director with Environmental Advocates of New York, said the rule stands out as one of the few environmental measures the Trump administration has not tried to throw out.
Utilities are scrambling to recover lost time. In Chicago, the U.S. city with the most lead lines, AP reporting says crews are moving block by block while workers search old work orders to determine what materials were used.
"We are digging through every single piece of information that we have associated with every single service line trying to find any indications of the material," Patrick Schwer, the city's water quality director, said. "We're scouring millions of work orders, trying to pull at little threads of information."
Replacing a line costs $8,000 to $15,000 each. Most federal support comes from the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, which is providing the final dedicated federal funding for lead projects.
While residents wait for clearer answers, Klainberg said a few practical measures can reduce risk: use high-quality water filters, run the tap before using water, and cook only with cold water.
As Erica Galante-Johnson, a lead policy analyst with the Environmental Policy Innovation Center, explained, "The more unknowns, the more lines a system needs to replace every year."
Where can I learn more?
These articles look at how contamination shows up at the household level, how many Americans still face unsafe tap water, and how EPA rules are pushing utilities to address other pollutants.
• In East Moline, officials found elevated lead after water tests at some homes and businesses.
• Nationally, 1 in 5 Americans may still face unsafe tap water despite decades of investment.
• The EPA's major new requirement is reshaping tap-water standards for millions exposed to PFAS.
Without an inventory, families are left to manage the risk on their own.
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