Lead in paint vs. lead in pipes — same metal, different exposure

Lead-based paint

Banned in residential paint in 1978 by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Any home built before 1978 is presumed to have lead-based paint until tested.

Federal Title X (1992) requires sellers + landlords of pre-1978 housing to disclose known lead-based paint, provide the EPA pamphlet, and offer a 10-day inspection window.

Exposure pathway: paint chips ingested by children, dust generated by deteriorating paint, or dust from renovations.

Inspection cost: $300-700 for an XRF lead-paint inspection. Risk assessment (testing dust + soil + paint): $400-900.

Lead service lines (LSL)

Underground pipes carrying water from the utility main to your home. Banned in new construction in 1986 by the Safe Drinking Water Act, but ~9 million homes still have lead service lines in 2026.

Federal Lead and Copper Rule (1991, revised 2024 LCRR) requires utilities to inventory + replace LSLs. Deadline: identify by 2024; replace by 2034 (LCRI proposes 2027 inventory + 2037 replacement).

Exposure pathway: water sits in the lead pipe → leaches lead → drinking + cooking exposure. Hot water leaches more.

How the two interact

Older homes (pre-1978) often have BOTH lead paint + lead service lines. The CDC 'safe' blood-lead level was lowered to 3.5 µg/dL in 2021; for kids, no level is considered fully safe.

If you're testing a kid for lead exposure, the source could be either or both — diagnostic samples include water, dust, paint, and soil.

What zipradar shows

EPA SDWIS + LCRR data on the utility's lead-pipe inventory + replacement obligations.

We don't surface lead-paint risk per address — that's tied to housing year-built (NCES has age-of-housing data; we don't yet federate that). Title X disclosure is the existing legal channel for paint.

Per-address lead testing remains the homeowner's job; we link to your state lead-prevention program for low-cost testing where available.