Lead and Copper Rule
How the City is Complying with Nationwide Regulations for Water Quality
In 1991, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a regulation to control lead and copper in drinking water (known as the Lead and Copper Rule) and since then the regulation has undergone various revisions. The City is committed to providing safe and reliable drinking water that meets or exceeds federal and state standards. There are no lead service lines or water mains in the City's water distribution system. Below are details on two components of the Lead and Copper Rule that the City is currently implementing. To learn more about the Lead and Copper rule, visit the US Environmental Protection Agency website.
Lead Service Line Inventory
Although there are no City-owned lead pipes in the City’s water system, in summer 2024 the City conducted an inventory of the pipe material of customer-owned water service lines (the pipe section from the water meter to the home or business). This inventory is part of a federal mandate known as the Lead and Copper Rule, which includes a nationwide effort to study private water service pipeline material. To achieve compliance with this mandate, the City created a study plan approved by the California Department of Drinking water. The plan consisted of grouping properties across the City by build date, and then field verifying the customer-side pipe material at randomly selected properties within each grouping. In total, the City conducted field verifications of approximately 1,750 randomly selected service lines. No lead service lines were found during the inventory - pipe materials were all non-lead. Because the City found no evidence of lead in the over 1,750 field verified customer-owned lines, the rest are assumed to be non-lead. The results of that inventory can be found at the interactive map linked below. Users can navigate the map to search by address or zoom in to the map for further details.
Lead and Copper Sampling Program
The EPA requires water agencies, including the City of Santa Barbara, to test water for lead and copper at a set number of service connections (depending on the number of customers served) that are at a higher risk for lead in tap water due to their plumbing characteristics. Water suppliers are not required to test the tap water of every customer.
As part of this requirement, triennially the City will collect information from property owners who may qualify for this free sampling service. All detectable water system testing results, including those for lead and copper, are published annually as part of the City's Water Quality Report.