Lead Water Service Lines into Old NYC Buildings

So all of you in Brownstone Brooklyn know, as i do home inspections in these old buildings, i am finding a ratio of one lead water main in about ten inspections. Most often, the buyers do not know the homes have lead water mains and, because many of those people are first-time home buyers, they often do not understand the implications of a lead water main (even after all of the stories that were on NPR about the crisis in Flint, Michigan). This past week, i found an approximately 3″ (od) lead water main coming into a large multi-family building. None of the people involved in this transaction, from the seller, their broker, my client and his broker, and the management company (who tried to say i was mistaken) were aware that this building had a lead water main coming into it. Families live in this building.

The NYC DEP maintains a map on a website https://nycdep.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/basic/index.html?appid=b48456a8c72d48a386882060cf191b12 to help us identify properties with lead water mains coming into them. However, since i have been checking mains for customers and looking at this map, i often find the map has inconclusive information or is outright wrong (most of the inconclusive information is from situations where the main come out of a concrete floor and the concrete was poured right up to the main turn off valve; the inspector could not see the main).

as a service to Brownstoners, if you are uncertain as to if you have a lead water main in your house and you wish, you may send me photos and by asking you questions via email, i will try to help you determine what you have (scratch it and if it is bright red, it is copper. if it is soft and looks like sterling silver, it is lead; the lead mains also have a bulbous solder connection where they join the copper lines in the house).

because the Brownstoner community has been so supportive of me as i have worked in brooklyn over the years, i am only offering this free service to people who can log on to the Brownstone Forum. This means, you must come on here and state that you are sending me photos. I can only extend myself so far with the public before it becomes hard to manage with my livelihood and continuing career-related education and personal life. and I will never take money for an email consultation for something like this-

Steven Cymbalski
Brownstone Home Inspection LLC
brownstonehomeinspection.com

Brownstone Home Inspection

in General Discussion 9 hrs ago

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BobMarvin | 8 hrs ago

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Thanks for posting this Steve! Besides all the health risks (which can be mitigated, but NOT eliminated, by letting water run before drinking, these lead mains are all >100 years old. They’re going to leak SOON. You might as well bite the bullet now and replace them. Having your water shut off by DEP Min an emergency is a major PITA. I learned the hard way about 30 years ago(when my lead maim was ONLY about 97 years old.