Lead Service Lines, Utility by Utility

What Each Utility Says

Counts are from the Public Service Commission's table of 2025 utility annual reports, as of December 31, 2025, unless the cell says otherwise. PSC reports lead, unknown and galvanized lines, and warns that customer-side inventories may be incomplete.(PSC)

• The numbers don't always match. Madison says it had no known lead lines at the end of 2025, while the PSC table lists 12 customer-side lead lines and 5 galvanized for Madison.(Madison 2025 water report)(PSC) Fitchburg's own table shows unknown and galvanized lines that the PSC table doesn't.(City of Fitchburg) If your house is old, the address lookup and your own eyes beat any total.
• Other utilities. DNR required every public water system to file an inventory with DNR and make it public by October 16, 2024. DNR doesn't publish a statewide lookup, so check with your own utility.(Wisconsin DNR)

Check Your Own Pipe

1. Find the water pipe where it comes through the basement wall or floor, between the wall and the shutoff valve before the meter.(Madison Water Utility)
2. Scratch it gently with a key or flathead screwdriver. Don't use a knife or dig into the pipe.(Madison Water Utility)(EPA)
3. Read the scratch and try a fridge magnet:(Madison Water Utility)
   • Shiny silver, magnet doesn't stick: lead.
   • Penny-colored: copper.
   • Dull gray, magnet sticks: galvanized steel.
4. Tell your utility what you found; most ask owners to report the material of an unknown line. EPA's Protect Your Tap guide walks through the same check.(EPA)

Only a water test shows whether there's lead in your water. EPA recommends a certified lab.(EPA) Lead can also come from inside the house: Madison says lead solder was used until 1986, and faucets and valves installed before 2015 may contain up to 8% lead.(Madison Water Utility)(Madison Water Utility) Tap water by well has Madison's lead test results and each nearby utility's water report.

Who Pays to Replace One

• Two sides. The utility owns the line up to the curb stop; the owner owns it from the curb stop to the house. That's how Madison and Monona describe it.(Madison Water Utility)(City of Monona)
• The owner's side is usually the owner's cost. The PSC says that's true in most communities.(PSC)
• Help has limits. A utility can use water rates to help only through a PSC-approved financial assistance program. Grants can cover no more than half of the owner's cost, and loans can cover the rest.(PSC)(PSC) The town must have an ordinance that both allows the aid and requires owners with a lead line to replace it.(PSC)
• State loan money from DNR's Safe Drinking Water Loan Program pays for public and private replacements, but it goes to the municipality, never to homeowners directly. DNR says few applicants get 100% forgiveness for private-side work.(Wisconsin DNR)
• Madison: if you find a lead line, Madison rebates half the replacement cost, up to $3,000. Call (608) 266-4651.(Madison Water Utility)
• Sun Prairie: the PSC lists a program approved May 12, 2020: a grant up to 50% or $2,000, with the rest as a 5-year, 0% loan. Ask Sun Prairie Utilities, (608) 837-5500, whether it's still open.(PSC)(Sun Prairie Utilities)

The Federal Deadlines

• Every water system had to finish a service line inventory by October 16, 2024.(EPA)
• EPA's Lead and Copper Rule Improvements, issued October 2024, require replacing lead and galvanized-requiring-replacement lines under the system's control within 10 years.(EPA)
• A galvanized line requires replacement if it is or ever was downstream of a lead line, or is downstream of a line of unknown material.(EPA)
• By November 1, 2027 each system must file an updated inventory and a replacement plan, and the lead action level drops from 15 to 10 parts per billion.(EPA) EPA guidance from June 2026 still uses that date.(EPA)
• Customers on a lead, galvanized-requiring-replacement or unknown line get a notice every year, with a way to tell the utility if it's wrong.(EPA)

Hiring the Work

Replacing the private side is plumbing. In Wisconsin it needs a licensed plumber, unless you're the owner doing your own one-family home and your town doesn't require a license.(Wis. Stat. 145.06) Here's how to check a plumber's license. Ask your utility first: the curb stop is theirs, and some have run their own programs, like Stoughton's 2021 replacements, which were free to owners who used the utility's contractor.(Stoughton Utilities, 2021 (archived))

Badger Homeowner doesn't recommend contractors and takes no money from them.

Questions

Does Madison still have lead water pipes?

Madison Water Utility says it has no known lead service lines, after replacing more than 8,000 by 2012. Unknown lines still turn up now and then, usually when a house is sold. The state utility commission's 2025 count lists 12 customer-side lead lines for Madison, so if your house is old, check the pipe yourself.

Who pays to replace a lead service line in Wisconsin?

The utility side is the utility's. The customer side usually belongs to the owner, and replacing it is the owner's cost. A utility can help pay only through a program the Public Service Commission approves, with grants covering at most half. Madison rebates half the cost up to $3,000.

How can I tell if my water line is lead?

Find the pipe where it comes through the basement wall, before the meter. Scratch it gently with a key or screwdriver and try a magnet. Shiny silver with no magnet pull is lead; copper color is copper; dull gray where a magnet sticks is galvanized steel.

What is a galvanized line requiring replacement?

EPA's term for a galvanized steel line that is or ever was downstream of a lead line, or downstream of a line of unknown material. Utilities must replace these along with lead lines.

Related Guides

• Tap Water by Well
• Sewer Laterals
• Lead Paint and Asbestos Rules
• Check a plumber's license.
• Older Homes