New Jersey is the first state in the nation to mandate full replacement of every lead service line by 2031. If your home was built before 1986, this law is about you. Here's exactly what's happening, who pays, and how to protect your family right now.
Any NJ home built before 1986 may have lead service lines, lead solder, or leaded brass fixtures. NJ Law P.L.2021 c.183 requires every lead service line in the state replaced by 2031 — the first mandate of its kind in the country. NJ American Water began door-to-door canvassing in Monmouth County in February 2023 and is spending roughly $7.3 million locally to get it done. There is no safe level of lead. Flushing the tap helps for that one glass — it's not a solution. Real protection while you wait is an NSF 53-certified filter for drinking water and a whole-home carbon system for showering.
Three possible sources of lead in your home's plumbing — and almost every older house in Monmouth County has at least one of them.
Lead service lines. The pipe that carries water from the public main in the street to your house. In NJ, lead service lines were standard construction from the late 1800s through roughly the 1950s. Keyport, Red Bank, Long Branch, Asbury Park, Freehold Borough, and other older Monmouth County towns with pre-1950s housing stock have the highest concentration. NJDEP estimates there are approximately 160,000 known or suspected lead service lines statewide, with an unknown number of additional "unknowns" still being mapped.
Lead solder. Copper pipe has been the NJ standard since the 1950s, but the solder that joins the pipes was made of lead up until Congress banned it in the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1986. Any house plumbed before 1986 — and many plumbed a few years after as existing solder stock worked its way through the supply chain — has lead solder on every single joint in the system.
Leaded brass fixtures. Until January 2014, federal law allowed "lead-free" plumbing fixtures to contain up to 8% lead. The Reduction of Lead in Drinking Water Act cut that to 0.25%. Any faucet, valve, or fitting manufactured before 2014 is legally allowed to leach measurable lead, and many do — particularly the first draw of water in the morning.
Two places to check your address: the NJDEP Lead Service Line Inventory Map, and your own utility's online lookup. NJ American Water maintains one for its territory and has been running door-to-door visual inspections in Monmouth County since February 2023.
Sources: NJDEP — Lead in Drinking Water; EPA — Lead and Copper Rule; NJ American Water — Lead Service Lines.
On July 22, 2021, Governor Phil Murphy signed P.L.2021, c.183 into law. The statute requires every public community water system in New Jersey to identify, inventory, and replace every lead service line on its system — both the utility-owned portion and the privately-owned portion — within 10 years. That puts the hard deadline at 2031.
NJ was the first state in the country to pass this kind of mandate. Michigan set a 20-year timeline after Flint. The new federal EPA Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (October 2024) requires most utilities nationally to complete replacement in 10 years — but NJ's law is still stricter in its enforcement and its coverage of the private side.
Utilities are required to submit an annual progress report to NJDEP. Homeowners are legally required to allow utility access for the public-side portion of the work. For homes where the owner refuses access to the private side, the utility must document the refusal but may still replace its own portion — which actually creates a dangerous "partial replacement" situation that can temporarily increase lead levels for weeks after the work, making full replacement the safer path for everyone.
NJ American Water — the largest investor-owned utility in Monmouth County — began its Monmouth/Ocean door-to-door canvassing program in February 2023. Field crews go house-to-house doing visual inspections of service lines where they enter the basement, marking the utility's inventory as "lead," "non-lead," or "unknown." If you see a clipboard-and-vest NJAW crew on your street, that's what they're doing.
Sources: NJ Legislature — P.L.2021 c.183 (S1147); NJDEP — Lead Service Line Inventory Requirements; NJ American Water — LSL Replacement Program.
This is the question homeowners care about most. The answer depends on your utility, but in Monmouth County — where NJ American Water covers most of the service area — the answer is mostly good news.
Every service line has two parts: the public side (from the water main in the street to the curb stop at your property line) and the private side (from the curb stop to where the pipe enters your house). Traditionally, the utility pays for the public side and the homeowner pays for the private side. A full replacement can cost $3,000 to $12,000 in private-side work alone, depending on yard length, landscaping, and driveway conditions.
Under NJ's 2021 law, utilities can recover full replacement costs — including the private side — through a modest ratepayer surcharge. NJAW opted into this model. Their Monmouth/Ocean territory program budget is approximately $7.3 million funded by a surcharge of roughly $0.91 per month on every customer's bill. For the individual homeowner whose line is being replaced, there is no direct out-of-pocket charge for either side.
| Cost Category | Typical Out-of-Pocket | Who Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Utility-side replacement (main to curb) | $0 | Utility (rate-funded) |
| Private-side replacement (NJAW customers) | $0 direct | Rate surcharge (~$0.91/mo) |
| Private-side replacement (some municipal systems) | $0 to $5,000+ | Varies by utility — check yours |
| Landscape/concrete restoration | Usually covered to standard | Utility (to original condition) |
| Interior plumbing upgrades (if needed) | Homeowner | Homeowner |
Smaller municipal utilities that aren't on the NJAW model have access to the NJ Water Bank (low-interest loans) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds — $15 billion nationally allocated to lead service line replacement. NJ's share is estimated at over $400 million. Call your local water authority to ask specifically what's available. Some Monmouth-area municipalities (Long Branch, Red Bank, Asbury Park, Neptune Township) run their own water systems and have separate programs.
Sources: NJ Infrastructure Bank (Water Bank); EPA — Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Water Investments; NJAW — LSL Program Funding.
Lead is a neurotoxin. The CDC, EPA, World Health Organization, and American Academy of Pediatrics all agree on one point: there is no known safe level of lead exposure in humans. That's not a marketing line. That's the scientific consensus.
The most serious effects hit kids under 6. Lead crosses the blood-brain barrier and damages developing neurons. The documented effects include permanent IQ loss, ADHD, reduced attention span, behavioral and learning disabilities, delayed puberty, and hearing loss. A 2022 study published in PNAS estimated that childhood lead exposure has cost Americans born between 1940 and 2015 a cumulative 824 million IQ points. The damage does not reverse. An adult who was exposed as a child carries that loss for life.
Lead crosses the placenta. Lead exposure during pregnancy is linked to miscarriage, premature birth, low birth weight, and developmental delays in the baby. A pregnant woman's body also pulls stored lead out of her bones — meaning past lead exposure, even years earlier, can re-enter the bloodstream during pregnancy and reach the fetus.
Chronic low-level lead exposure in adults is linked to high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, kidney damage, reduced kidney function, reproductive issues in both sexes, and cognitive decline. A landmark 2018 Lancet Public Health study attributed 256,000 US cardiovascular deaths per year to historical lead exposure — roughly 10 times the previous estimate.
When Flint, Michigan switched water sources in 2014 and stopped adding corrosion control to the water, lead leached out of existing service lines within months. Blood-lead levels in Flint children doubled. The public health cost is still being calculated. The lesson for NJ: the risk is always there in older infrastructure — it takes a small change in water chemistry to turn a dormant problem into a crisis.
Sources: CDC — Lead Poisoning Prevention; PNAS — Half of Americans exposed to adverse lead levels in childhood (2022); Lancet Public Health — Low-level lead exposure and mortality (2018); ATSDR — Toxicological Profile for Lead.
Here's the part most people get wrong: lead doesn't come from the reservoir, the river, or the treatment plant. NJ source water is essentially lead-free when it leaves the utility. Lead enters the water on its journey into and through your house.
When water sits in a lead pipe — overnight, during the workday, over a weekend — lead slowly dissolves from the pipe wall into the water. Utilities add corrosion control chemicals (usually orthophosphate) to form a protective film on the inside of pipes that slows the leaching. When that chemistry is stable, levels stay low. When anything disrupts it — a source change, a pH shift, construction vibration, a water main break — lead can spike.
Every copper pipe joint in a pre-1986 home has lead solder on it. Even in an otherwise modern plumbing system, these solder joints can leach measurable lead, especially at hot temperatures. Interior copper with lead solder is one of the most overlooked sources in otherwise "safe" newer homes that were re-plumbed partially in the 1970s or early 1980s.
Pre-2014 brass faucets, valves, and fittings legally contained up to 8% lead. The first draw of water in the morning — water that's been sitting in the faucet body overnight — consistently tests the highest for lead of any water in a typical home. This is why NSF 61 certification (for plumbing products) and NSF 53 certification (for filters that reduce lead) both matter.
Even with NJ's 2031 deadline, most replacements will happen over the next 3 to 7 years. Here's what to do while you wait.
NJ American Water offers free lead test kits to customers in its service area. If you're outside NJAW territory or want an independent result, any NJDEP-certified lab will run lead for $30 to $80. Collect a "first-draw" sample from the kitchen tap in the morning before any water has been used — that's the worst-case reading. Retest after 30 seconds of flushing for comparison.
The only filters that reliably remove lead carry one of two certifications: NSF/ANSI 53 for lead reduction (carbon block filters) or NSF/ANSI 58 (reverse osmosis systems, 97-99% lead reduction). Not all "activated carbon" filters meet this standard — check the box for the specific NSF 53 lead claim before buying.
| Solution | Lead Reduction | What It Protects |
|---|---|---|
| NSF 53 pitcher filter | Up to 99% (when cartridge fresh) | Drinking water only |
| NSF 53 faucet-mount / under-sink | 97–99% | One tap |
| Kitchen reverse osmosis (NSF 58) | 97–99% | Kitchen drinking & cooking — gold standard |
| Halo 5 Whole-Home + Kitchen RO | Whole-home carbon + 99% at kitchen | Every tap + drinking water — complete coverage |
For families serious about protecting against lead — especially households with young children, pregnant women, or anyone on a private well — the combination of a Halo 5 whole-home carbon system plus a kitchen RO is the most complete residential solution available. Carbon at the point of entry protects every shower, every washing machine cycle, every bath. The kitchen RO delivers lead-free water for the drinking glass and the baby bottle.
FIXALL Plumbing Heating & Air Condition is a registered Halo dealer and a licensed master plumbing company (NJ Master Plumber Lic. #12125). Every installation is professionally sized for the home's water chemistry, flow rate, and family size.
FIXALL Plumbing Heating & Air Condition is based in Keyport at 57 NJ-35, serving all of Monmouth County and surrounding areas. Request a free in-home water test. We show you exactly what's in your water — and exactly what it will take to protect your family from lead. No obligation, no pressure.
FIXALL Plumbing Heating & Air Condition is based in Keyport, serving all of Monmouth County. Request a free in-home water test — no obligation, no pressure, just answers.