Lead pipes were standard in UK homes built before 1970. Enter your postcode to see how likely legacy lead pipes are in your area — based on official property-age data and your water zone's measured lead levels.
Free · Official EPC & water quality data · Model v1.0
"Water supply elements should be included in homebuyers' reports as standard, so that when someone buys a property, they have clear information on the type of water supply and whether there is any legacy lead in the property's water system."
Many water companies run free lead-pipe checks and contribute to (or fully fund) replacement schemes. It costs nothing to ask.
Look where the supply pipe enters your home. Lead is dull grey and soft enough to scratch shiny with a coin — unlike orange-brown copper or coloured plastic.
If water has stood overnight or while you were away, run the cold tap for 30 seconds to 2 minutes before drinking, and use the cold tap for drinking and cooking.
A tap-specific water test is the only way to confirm what's in your own water. For health questions, see the NHS guidance.
Want the complete picture for — lead, PFAS, hardness, incidents and more?
Get the full water report →We combine two things: the construction age of EPC-assessed properties in the postcode (lead was the standard service-pipe material before 1970, and most prevalent before 1945), and measured lead levels in the water supply zone. Zone evidence can raise the assessment but never lower it — low zone readings often reflect corrosion-control treatment rather than replaced pipes, so we don't let them downgrade the property-age likelihood. Full methodology is published on this site.
No. The result describes the probability that legacy lead pipework exists in the area, based on property age — it is not a finding about your water. Many lead pipes have been replaced over the decades, and water companies' corrosion-control treatment further reduces lead at the tap where pipes remain. The only way to know about a specific property is a physical check or a tap test.
Find where the water pipe enters your home (usually under the kitchen sink or at the internal stop tap). Lead pipes are dull grey and soft — gently scratching the surface with a coin leaves a shiny silver mark. Copper is orange-brown; plastic is usually blue, black or white.
The current standard is 10 µg/l at the tap. The Chief Inspector of Drinking Water has recommended halving it to 5 µg/l. Properties and zones measuring near the current standard would be most affected if that change is adopted.
The property-age evidence comes from Energy Performance Certificates, which mainly cover properties sold, let, or built since 2008. Some postcodes have few or no assessed properties — for those we show water-zone information only, and no likelihood rating.
Scotland and Northern Ireland run separate EPC systems that aren't yet in our model, so coverage is currently England and Wales. We plan to add them.
This tool shows the probability of lead pipes based on the age of EPC-assessed properties in a postcode. It is not a finding about any individual property.
The only way to confirm whether a specific property has lead pipes is a physical check or a tap-specific water test.
Zone lead measurements are averages across an entire supply zone and may not reflect any individual tap.
Informational only; not a substitute for a professional survey.
Data: Energy Performance Certificate register (MHCLG, Open Government Licence v3) · ONS Postcode Directory (OGL v3) · water companies' annual compliance data as reported under DWI regulation. Model: methodology v1.0.