Lead & Copper Rule Resources

Located on this page is a collection of resources, forms and templates, definitions, and more for the EPA's Lead & Copper Rule, including revisions.

🚨The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recently updated the Lead & Copper rule, which now mandates that an initial lead service line inventory must be submitted by October 16, 2024. It is crucial to meet this deadline to ensure compliance with the regulation.🚨

Glossary

Acronyms & Definitions
Useful Resources
EPA Form/Template
State-Specific EPA Forms/Templates and Websites
Form Requirements
Do's & Don'ts
The Way to Get This All Done

Acronyms and Definitions:

LCR: Lead and Copper Rule: The primary regulation governing the control of lead and copper in drinking water.

LCRR - Lead and Copper Rule Revisions: Changes to the EPA's Lead and Copper Rule.
LCRI - Lead and Copper Rule Improvements: Enhancements to the Lead and Copper Rule.
LSL - Lead Service Line: Part of the water line made of lead.
LSLI - Lead Service Line Inventory: A list of locations with lead service lines.
LSLR - Lead Service Line Replacement: Replacing lead service lines to reduce contamination risk.
GRR - Galvanized Requiring Replacement: Lines made of corroded galvanized steel needing replacement.
BIL - Bipartisan Infrastructure Law: U.S. law funding water infrastructure improvements, including lead service line replacement.

Pb - Lead (chemical symbol): Used to represent the element lead in water quality measurements.
Cu - Copper (chemical symbol): Used to represent the element copper in water quality measurements.
PWS - Public Water System: A system that provides drinking water to the public, including municipalities and water utilities.
COC - Corrosion Control Treatment: Methods and processes employed to reduce the corrosivity of water and mitigate the leaching of lead and copper into drinking water.
WQP - Water Quality Parameters: Various chemical and physical measurements used to assess the quality of drinking water.
ALC - Action Level Exceedance Calculation: A calculation used to determine whether a water system is in violation of lead and copper action levels.
AL - Action Level: The concentration of lead or copper in water that, if exceeded, triggers specific regulatory actions and requirements.
90th Percentile Value - A statistical measure used to determine compliance with action levels. It represents the concentration exceeded by 90% of the sampled sites.
SWTR - Surface Water Treatment Rule: A related EPA regulation that addresses the treatment of surface water sources for drinking water.
WLA - Washington Lead Agency: Refers to state-level agencies responsible for implementing and enforcing lead and copper regulations in Washington State, for example.
CWS - Community Water System – A public water system (PWS) that serves at least 15 service connections used by year-round residents or regularly serves at least 25 year-round residents.
NTNCWS - Nontransient Noncommunity Water System – A PWS that is not a CWS but is a subset of a noncommunity water system that regularly serves at least 25 of the same people, four hours or more per day, for four or more days per week, for 26 or more weeks per year.
Customer – A homeowner, building owner, or non-owner resident served by a water system who may or may not be responsible for paying water bills.
GSL - Galvanized Service Line – Iron or steel piping that has been dipped in zinc to prevent corrosion and rusting. Galvanized Service Line Requiring Replacement
Gooseneck, Pigtail, or Connector (collectively gooseneck) – A short section of piping, typically not exceeding two feet, which can be bent and used for connections between rigid service piping. A lead gooseneck is not considered part of the LSL but must be replaced when encountered.
Lead: where the service line is made of lead.
GSLRR - Galvanized Requiring Replacement: where a galvanized service line is or was at any time downstream of a lead service line or is currently downstream of a “Lead Status Unknown” service line. If the water system is unable to demonstrate that the galvanized service line was never downstream of a lead service line, it must presume there was an upstream lead service line.
Non-lead: where the service line is determined through an evidence-based record, method, or technique not to be lead or galvanized requiring replacement. The water system may classify the actual material of the service line (i.e., plastic or copper) as an alternative to classifying it as “Non-lead.”
Lead Status Unknown: where the service line material is not known to be lead, galvanized requiring replacement, or a non-lead service line, such as where there is no documented evidence supporting material classification.

Useful Resources:

These documents, webpages, presentations, videos, and other resources have been considered useful by iamGIS for research, inspiration, and educational purposes. Much of the information on this page was aggregated from these resources.

Forms

Each state may have its own specific requirements and forms for complying with the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions. The best place to start your search would be the official website of the environmental or health department in each state. These websites often provide information on the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions and may have downloadable forms or templates available.

For example, some states divide templates and submission requirements based on the amount of service connections. Please verify that you are using the appropriate template for your number of service connections. Most states provide a modified version of the EPA's official template, but some have their own alternatives or additional requirements.

You can try searching for the specific state's environmental or health department website and look for sections related to the Lead and Copper Rule or drinking water regulations. These sections may provide guidance, forms, or templates for compliance with the rule.

Alternatively, you can also try reaching out to the environmental or health department in each state directly to inquire about the availability of templates or forms for the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions.

Keep in mind that the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions are constantly evolving, so it's important to stay updated with the latest information and requirements from the relevant authorities in each state.

We have provided links to the LCRR forms/templates and websites for each state for your convenience below.

"*" Designates the following disclaimer:

Forms/Templates are difficult to locate or require additional direction. Please see website and/or local EPA officials for appropriate instructions and other forms

Agency	Abbreviation	LCRR Form	LCR Website	Notes
Environmental Protection Agency	EPA	Form	Website

State	Abbreviation	LCRR Form	LCR Website	Notes
Alabama	AL	Form	Website
Alaska	AK	Form	Website
Arizona	AZ	Form	Website	*
Arkansas	AR	Form	Website
California	CA	Form	Website
Colorado	CO	Form	Website	*
Connecticut	CT	Form	Website
Delaware	DE	Form	Website	*
District of Columbia	DC	Form	Website	*
Florida	FL	Form	Website	*
Georgia	GA	Form	Website	*
Hawaii	HI	Form	Website
Idaho	ID	Form	Website	*
Illinois	IL	Form	Website
Indiana	IN	Form	Website
Iowa	IA	Form	Website
Kansas	KS	Form	Website
Kentucky	KY	Form	Website
Louisiana	LA	Form	Website	*
Maine	ME	Form	Website
Maryland	MD	Form	Website	*
Massachusetts	MA	Form	Website	*
Michigan	MI	Form	Website	*
Minnesota	MN	Form	Website	*
Mississippi	MS	Form	Website	*
Missouri	MO	Form	Website	*
Montana	MT	Form	Website
Nebraska	NE	Form	Website	*
Nevada	NV	Form	Website
New Hampshire	NH	Form	Website
New Jersey	NJ	Form	Website	*
New Mexico	NM	Form	Website
New York	NY	Form	Website
North Carolina	NC	Form	Website	*
North Dakota	ND	Form	Website
Ohio	OH	Form	Website
Oklahoma	OK	Form	Website
Oregon	OR	Form	Website	*
Pennsylvania	PA	Form	Website
Rhode Island	RI	Form	Website	*
South Carolina	SC	Form	Website
South Dakota	SD	Form	Website	*
Tennessee	TN	Form	Website
Texas	TX	Form	Website
Utah	UT	Form	Website
Vermont	VT	Form	Website
Virginia	VA	Form	Website
Washington	WA	Form	Website
West Virginia	WV	Form	Website
Wisconsin	WI	Form	Website	*
Wyoming	WY	Form	Website	*

Form Requirements

All community and non-transient, non-community water systems with one or more lead, galvanized requiring replacement, or lead status unknown service lines in their distribution system must submit a lead service line replacement (LSLR) plan to the department by October 16, 2024. The lead service line replacement plan must be sufficiently detailed to ensure the system is able to comply with the lead service line replacement requirements in the LCRR. The plan must include a description of:

A strategy for determining the composition of lead status unknown service lines in its inventory;
A procedure for conducting full lead service line replacement;
A strategy for informing customers before a full or partial lead service line replacement;
For systems that serve more than 10,000 persons, a lead service line replacement goal rate recommended by the system in the event of a lead trigger level exceedance;
A procedure for customers to flush service lines and premise plumbing of particulate lead;
A lead service line replacement prioritization strategy based on factors including but not limited to the targeting of known lead service lines, lead service line replacement for disadvantaged consumers and populations most sensitive to the effects of lead; and
A funding strategy for conducting lead service line replacements which considers ways to accommodate customers who are unable to pay to replace the portion they own.

Information provided by CDPHE

Do's

Start planning for a service line inventory as early as feasible.
Record search is the best first step for most PWSs. Start gathering available records for your inventory.
Find methods for identifying SL materials that are technically and financially available to your PWS.
Try to digitize all historical records used for identifying service line materials.
SL material identification must be evidence-based.
Document every historical record, study result, report, and any information used for SL materials. You should be ready to submit them to the State, an LHD, or EPA when requested.
Reach out to customers for their cooperation in identifying the customer-owned section of SL material.
Document all records, e.g., LSL replacements and maintenance and repair of water main or service lines. For most PWSs, the inventory is a living document that needs updating when new information becomes available.

Don'ts

Don’t wait until the last few months before 10/16/24.
Don’t assume materials of unknown SLs.
Don’t assume all historical records are accurate.
Don’t assume every method for identifying SL materials is suitable for every PWS.
Don’t assume there is no LSL or GSLRR in your system before evaluation.
Don’t assume the initial inventory is final. The inventory won’t be final until there is no LSL, GSLRR or unknown SL.

Just so you know:

"Division of Drinking and Ground Waters (DDGAW) Information Management staff worked with iamGIS staff to review the compatibility of their application. While not an endorsement, I can confirm that the application produces a Lead Service Line Inventory (LSL) file that can be exported to a CSV file format and that the file can be submitted to DDAGW to meet the LSL reporting requirements."

- Thomas Brewster, Information Technology Supervisor, Division of Drinking and Ground Waters, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency

Printable Checklist

We created a printable checklist for you to make it super easy to get your form done. Click the link below to download.

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