# The lead service line replacement rule: what EPA's ten-year deadline means for Indianapolis homes > The EPA lead service line replacement rule gives water systems ten years to replace lead lines. What it requires, what it leaves out and what it means locally. URL: https://circlecityrepipeindy.com/blog/lead-service-line-replacement-rule/ News EPA's Lead and Copper Rule Improvements set a ten-year deadline for replacing lead service lines. Here is what the rule requires of water systems, what it does not cover inside the house, and how Citizens and Speedway fit in. Last Updated: October 30, 2026 The lead service line replacement rule is the federal requirement that drinking water systems find and replace lead service lines within ten years. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized it as the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements on October 8, 2024, and water systems must comply starting November 1, 2027, when the ten-year replacement period begins. [Circle City Repipe](https://circlecityrepipeindy.com/) replaces lead and galvanized water service lines and repipes the plumbing inside houses across Indianapolis and nearby communities, with the work carried out by licensed and insured contractors. This post explains what the rule asks of water systems and what it means for a house here. ## What the rule requires EPA’s [Lead and Copper Rule Improvements page](https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/lead-and-copper-rule-improvements) describes the rule as requiring drinking water systems across the country to identify and replace lead pipes within ten years. The details, from EPA’s published questions and answers for states and water systems: - **Full replacement, not partial.** Systems must replace every lead service line and every “galvanized requiring replacement” line under their control, the whole length, regardless of their lead test results. - **A ten-year pace.** The rule sets a minimum replacement rate of 10 percent a year, measured as a running average, which works out to a ten-year deadline. States can require a faster one where it is feasible. - **Public inventories.** Systems must keep an inventory of the material of every service line, update it each year, make it public and identify every line of unknown material by the deadline. People served by a lead, galvanized requiring replacement or unknown line get an annual notice. - **A replacement plan.** Systems with any lead, galvanized requiring replacement or unknown lines must submit a replacement plan by November 1, 2027, including a funding strategy and how they will tell customers before work starts. - **A lower action level.** The lead level that triggers action drops from 15 to 10 parts per billion on the compliance date. A narrow exception lets a system with a very high share of lead lines take longer than ten years: one that would need to replace more than 39 lines per 1,000 service connections each year. EPA’s page is the place to check the rule’s current status before relying on any date. ## Why galvanized lines are included A galvanized service line is steel pipe dipped in zinc. On its own it is not a lead pipe. But galvanized pipe that sat downstream of a lead line can hold lead particles in its corroded inner wall and release them long after the lead section is gone. That is why EPA requires those lines to be replaced too, and why a galvanized line counts unless the system can show it was never downstream of lead. The [guide to whether galvanized pipes are safe](https://circlecityrepipeindy.com/guide/are-galvanized-pipes-safe/) covers the same mechanism inside the house. ## What the rule does not cover The rule stops at the service line and lead connectors. It does not require anyone to replace pipe inside the house, and it does not cover lead solder on older copper. Citizens Energy Group notes that homes built before 1950 may have lead plumbing inside as well as a lead service line, and that copper pipe in homes built before 1986 may have lead solder at the joints. That interior pipe is a [whole-house repiping](https://circlecityrepipeindy.com/whole-house-repiping/) or [partial repiping](https://circlecityrepipeindy.com/partial-repiping/) question, done under a plumbing permit. When a service line is replaced, the new line ends at the meter or the house, and what happens to old galvanized or lead pipe past that point is the owner’s decision. ## How it plays out with Citizens Energy Group In Citizens Energy Group’s territory the property owner owns the full length of the service line. Citizens runs an IURC-approved [Lead Service Line Replacement Program](https://info.citizensenergygroup.com/lead-service-line-replacement-program) that replaces customer-owned lead lines both in the right-of-way and on private property. In prioritized project areas the replacement is at no cost to the customer once the owner signs a Right of Entry Agreement. Outside those areas, an owner can start the replacement: Citizens pays for the right-of-way portion, and the owner pays for the portion from the property line to the house and for moving the meter to an outside pit. A full replacement in Citizens territory must be SDR9 polyethylene with tracing wire, and the work is done under a Citizens permit by a plumber bonded with Citizens. Citizens publishes a [service line map](https://citizensenergygroup.com/service-line-map) where owners can look up the recorded material for their own address. The [Citizens lead service line program guide](https://circlecityrepipeindy.com/guide/citizens-energy-lead-service-line-program/) and the [meter pit guide](https://circlecityrepipeindy.com/guide/service-line-replacement-meter-pit/) go further into both paths. ## How it plays out in Speedway Speedway has its own utility, Speedway Water Works, and its own approach. In a community update the Town of Speedway said it has about 4,300 water service connections, that service lines from the main to the home are owned by the property owners, and that its mains are not lead. The town has mailed status letters for lines of unknown material, lines where sampling indicates lead and lines with a confirmed lead portion. It noted that the EPA rule requires all lead service lines to be replaced within ten years starting 2027, and that it is waiting for state guidance and funding; no replacement program or owner cost had been announced in that update. The [Town of Speedway’s update](https://www.speedwayin.gov/node/28106) and the [Speedway service area page](https://circlecityrepipeindy.com/service-areas/speedway/) have the local details. ## What to do if you get a letter A letter usually means the utility’s inventory lists your line as lead, galvanized requiring replacement or unknown. Unknown is not the same as lead, so the first step is finding out what is actually there, usually where the line enters the house at the meter. Then check whether your street is in a scheduled utility project before paying for a replacement yourself. The [lead service line replacement page](https://circlecityrepipeindy.com/lead-service-line-replacement/) explains the work, and [a request for an estimate](https://circlecityrepipeindy.com/contact/) starts with tracing the line. FAQ ## Questions - Q01 Does the federal lead pipe rule require my water utility to replace pipe inside my house? No. The Lead and Copper Rule Improvements are about service lines, the buried pipe between the water main and the house, plus lead connectors. Lead or galvanized pipe inside the house and lead solder on old copper joints are outside the rule. Replacing interior pipe is a repipe, done under a plumbing permit. - Q02 What is a galvanized requiring replacement service line? It is EPA's term for a galvanized steel service line that is or ever was downstream of a lead line, is downstream of a line of unknown material, or that the water system cannot show was never downstream of lead. Galvanized pipe can collect lead particles from upstream, so the rule treats these lines like lead lines and requires them to be replaced. - Q03 Can I refuse a utility's offer to replace my lead service line? Where replacement needs the property owner's consent, EPA requires the water system to make a reasonable effort to get it, at least four attempts using at least two methods of contact. If the owner does not consent, the system is not required to replace that line, but it must try again when the property changes hands. Declining leaves the lead line in service. ## Want this answered for your house? Read ## Keep reading - Learn [How does the Citizens Energy lead service line replacement program work?](https://circlecityrepipeindy.com/guide/citizens-energy-lead-service-line-program/)What Citizens' letter means, how to look up your own line, what happens when the program reaches your street, what it costs if you go first, and what it leaves inside the house. - Learn [Citizens meter pit relocation: when the meter moves outside and who pays](https://circlecityrepipeindy.com/guide/service-line-replacement-meter-pit/)Why a service line replacement in Citizens territory brings the basement water meter outside, what the pit and the new line involve, what sets the cost, and what an outside meter changes for the owner. - Learn [Are galvanized pipes safe?](https://circlecityrepipeindy.com/guide/are-galvanized-pipes-safe/)Galvanized steel is not lead pipe, but it can carry a lead problem, and it wears out in ways that matter for flow, leaks and water quality. Here is what the risk actually is, how Indianapolis utilities treat galvanized lines, and how to decide what to do. - Learn [What is repiping, and how does it work?](https://circlecityrepipeindy.com/guide/complete-guide-to-repiping/)The whole picture in one place: what the water supply system is, what Indianapolis houses were piped with and why it fails, how to tell what you have, the Indiana rules on permits and licensing, and how a repipe is scoped, installed and tested. - Dates and Deadlines [Fix a Leak Week: a leak check for older pipes](https://circlecityrepipeindy.com/blog/fix-a-leak-week/)Every March, EPA's WaterSense program runs Fix a Leak Week. The standard checks find dripping faucets and running toilets; this one adds the leaks that older supply pipe and buried service lines tend to hide.