The water that the SFPUC delivers to customers is lead-free. There is no lead in San Francisco’s distribution lines, and all lead service lines from the distribution system were removed in the 1980s. Since then, whenever a previously unidentified lead service line is found during the course of construction or maintenance work, it is quickly removed. 

The SFPUC’s corrosion control and monitoring program consists of treating drinking water throughout the system and is approved by California State Water Resources Control Board. In conjunction with monitoring and corrosion control efforts, the SFPUC continuously works to further reduce lead exposures from drinking water to the City’s residents.

The SFPUC has been proactively educating customers about potential lead exposure from drinking water, its health effects, and the reduction of that potential exposure since the 1980s. In partnership with the San Francisco Department of Public Health’s Childhood Lead Prevention Program, the SFPUC provides water sampling and laboratory services to help investigate the lead sources for San Francisco children whose blood lead level meets the state’s criteria for warranting medical case management and environmental investigation services.

The SFPUC also offers free home testing for lead in water to families that qualify for the Women, Infants & Children (WIC) Program.

For the SFPUC, nothing is more important than protecting the health of customers, especially children. The SFPUC’s continued work will save generations of children from potential lead exposure through drinking water.