The City of Boulder strives to provide clean, safe, great-tasting drinking water to our customers.
The city has completed its initial inventory of all drinking water service lines in its service area. No lead lines were found. The inventory began in 2022 with the goal of ensuring that no City of Boulder water customers have lead water service lines. A map of the completed inventory is now available in both English and Spanish.
The city used several methods to complete the initial inventory, including records review, customer outreach, onsite visits to homes and businesses and visual inspections. Although not every service line in the city was inspected, the city inspected a statistically valid number of lines, using an approach approved by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
This statistical approach provides us the confidence to assume many service lines are non-lead. These service lines are categorized as “assumed non-lead” on the map. If your water service line is shown as unknown or assumed non-lead, or if you believe the information presented here is incorrect, visit our portal to enter your service line material information at bldr.fyi/mywaterserviceline or email drinkingwater@bouldercolorado.gov. The map will be updated as we receive new information.
Community members who live in manufactured home communities can learn more about their service lines on the city's Water Utilities webpage.
Water leaving Boulder’s two water treatment plants is essentially free of lead. Lead in drinking water can occur if in-home plumbing materials that contain lead corrode over time. The city's water treatment process is designed to reduce corrosion and protect pipe materials.
The city consistently provides high-quality drinking water that meets water regulations, and our water sampling program goes above and beyond requirements, including those that limit the amount of lead in drinking water.
The city has monitored for lead in drinking water for more than 30 years, and results are consistently below federal and state drinking water standards.
More information about the city’s drinking water quality can be found in its Annual Drinking Water Report (PDF).
The federal government enacted regulations to mitigate exposure to lead from water service lines. A service line is the pipe that moves water from the city’s water system into homes and businesses. The city owns the water service line from the water main (typically under the street) to the meter, and the customer owns the water service line from the water meter into the home or building.
View larger image: Water Service Line Public Private Locations (opens in a new window).
To complete this initial inventory, the city followed state guidance, reviewed thousands of historical records and conducted visual inspections to classify service lines as non-lead. Community participation was a large part of the inventory process, as 900+ community members identified the material of their service lines inside their properties and shared that information with the city.
Add your property to the city’s water service line inventory by taking five minutes to complete the following form accessed through the link below:
Locate where the drinking water service line comes into your house or building near the main water shut-off valve. These lines typically enter the home through the floor or wall of a crawlspace or basement. Make sure the line you inspect is not the one used for gas or wastewater, and is not part of the piping used to move water through your home or business.
Do not attempt to access the water meter. City staff are responsible for understanding the material of the service line from the meter to the water main and will conduct physical inspections if necessary.
City of Arvada
Water service line entering through foundation wall
Identify what material your water service line is made of. Be sure to look at the water service line itself and not the connection, glue, or solder.
Environmental Protection Agency
Add your property to the city’s water service line inventory by taking five minutes to complete the following form accessed through the link below:
There are several ways to contact city staff:
More information can be found on the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s lead webpage.
