Got a water line notice or survey?
Every water system in New Jersey has to find its lead and galvanized service lines and replace them. That is why letters and door tags are going out town after town across the state. If your line turns out to be lead or galvanized steel, we are the crew that digs it out and puts the new one in. Seven counties, our own machines, and we answer our own phone.
The short answer
New Jersey law requires every public community water system to inventory its water service lines, notify customers on a lead or unknown line by August 10 each year, and replace all lead service lines by 2031. As of December 2025, water systems statewide had reported 115,121 known lead or galvanized lines and 688,378 lines of unknown material out of 2,395,871 reported. A homeowner can usually identify their own line in about five minutes with a coin and a magnet. NJDEP states that both the public and the private side of the line are eligible for replacement funding, and that principal forgiveness money is earmarked specifically for the customer side.
Facts on this page are drawn from New Jersey statute, NJDEP, and US EPA sources, each linked in place. Last reviewed July 29, 2026.
New Jersey lead service line requirements at a glance
| Question | Answer | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Who has to comply? | Every public community water system in New Jersey, whether it is run by a municipality, a utilities authority, or an investor-owned company. | NJ statute |
| What is the replacement deadline? | All lead service lines in New Jersey must be replaced by 2031, under P.L. 2021, c.183, signed in July 2021. | NJDEP |
| When must customers be notified? | Water systems must send notices to customers on a lead or unknown service line by August 10 each year. | NJDEP |
| When are inventories due to the state? | Service line inventories are due to NJDEP by July 10 each year. | NJDEP |
| How many lines are affected? | As of December 2025, New Jersey water systems reported 115,121 known lead or galvanized service lines and 688,378 lines of unknown material, out of 2,395,871 total lines reported. | NJDEP |
| Is the homeowner's side eligible for funding? | Yes. NJDEP states that both the public and private sides of a lead service line are eligible for replacement funding, and that principal forgiveness funds are earmarked specifically for the customer side replacement. | NJDEP |
| Can only half the line be replaced? | No. NJDEP states that water systems cannot replace only the system-owned side and leave the customer-owned side for later, except in an emergency or as part of a main replacement project. | NJDEP |
| What is the federal deadline? | The US EPA Lead and Copper Rule Improvements carry a compliance date of November 1, 2027, with lead service line replacement required over the following ten years. | US EPA |
It is a statewide deadline on a yearly calendar, not just your town
New Jersey passed a law in 2021 that put every community water system in the state on a clock: inventory the service lines, tell the people who are on a lead or unknown line, and replace those lines by 2031. NJDEP turned that into two dates that repeat every single year. Inventories are due to the state by July 10, and water systems must send notices to affected customers by August 10.
That is the whole explanation for the tag on your door or the letter with your bill. Systems all over New Jersey are working the same deadline in the same few weeks, which is why your neighbors two towns over got one too. It is also why this is not a one-time thing: every address still on the unknown list gets contacted again next year, and the year after, until somebody identifies the pipe.
A notice does not mean your line is definitely lead. Most of them mean nobody knows yet, and yours is one of the addresses still marked unknown. The federal rule adds its own compliance date of November 1, 2027 behind the state one, so this is not going away.
New Jersey sources: NJ P.L. 2021, c.183, the lead service line replacement law (NJ Legislature) · NJDEP Lead Exposure Reduction · NJDEP: for residents receiving notice of a lead or unknown service line · US EPA: Lead and Copper Rule Improvements
Reported by water systems to NJDEP, December 2025. Statewide, not one town.
Nearly three in ten service lines in New Jersey have never been confirmed. You can look up what your own water system has reported on NJDEP's mapping tool: NJDEP: Where are lead service lines in NJ? (Potential Lead Exposure Mapping).
How to tell what your water line is made of
You do not need a plumber for this, and you do not need to wait for an appointment. NJDEP tells residents with an unknown line that they can verify the material themselves, so here is how. Do it at the pipe on the street side of your water meter.
1. Find where the line comes in
Start at your water meter and look at the pipe on the street side of it. In most homes that is in the basement or a crawlspace, on the wall closest to the road. If your meter sits in an outside pit, look at the pipe running into the pit.
2. Scratch it with a coin or a key
Pick a spot a few inches from the meter and scratch the outside of the pipe. Lead scratches easily and shows a shiny silver streak, and the pipe itself is a dull gray, soft, and often has a bulged section or a rounded bend. Copper scratches to a bright penny color. Galvanized steel barely scratches at all and stays dull gray.
3. Put a magnet on it
A common refrigerator magnet sticks firmly to galvanized steel. It will not stick to lead, copper, or plastic. Magnet sticks plus a dull gray pipe that will not scratch silver means galvanized. No magnet plus a silver scratch means lead.
4. Take the photo they asked for
Get the meter and about a foot of the incoming pipe in the same frame, in good light, close enough to read the surface. If you scratched it, photograph the scratch. One clear photo answers the question faster than any form, and it is what lets your water system rule your address in or out.
How to read what you found
| Material | Scratch test | Magnet | What it looks like | Under the NJ program |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lead | Scratches easily to a shiny silver streak | Does not stick | Dull gray, soft, often a bulged section or fat rounded bend, no threads | Must be replaced under the NJ program |
| Galvanized steel | Barely scratches, stays dull gray | Sticks firmly | Dull gray with threaded joints, often rusty at fittings | Reportable, and commonly replaced along with lead |
| Copper | Scratches to a bright penny color | Does not stick | Orange-brown, or green where it has oxidized, soldered joints | Not affected |
| Plastic (PVC, PEX, HDPE) | Scratches white, plastic feel | Does not stick | White, black, or blue, usually with a stamped marking | Not affected |
If the pipe is painted, wrapped, or buried behind finished wall, scratch a spot you can reach or say so on the form. Guessing helps nobody, and an honest “I could not see it” is a fine answer. NJDEP's own guidance for residents is here: what to do if you get a notice.
The state earmarked funding for the homeowner's half of the pipe
A service line has two halves: the water system's side from the main to the curb, and your side from the curb into the house. NJDEP is straightforward that property owners may be responsible for their portion. But read what the state says about its own funding, because most people never get this far:
“Both the public and private sides of the lead service lines are eligible for replacement funding.”
“Principal forgiveness funds are earmarked specifically for the customer side replacement, reflecting a priority to mitigate lead exposure directly at the consumer level.”NJDEP, lead service line replacement funding requirements
In plain terms: there is state and federal money moving through the New Jersey Water Bank aimed at the half of the pipe that is normally yours to pay for. On top of that, partial replacements are generally off the table. NJDEP says systems cannot replace their side and leave the customer side for later, except in an emergency or as part of a main replacement project, so when your line comes up the whole run should be dealt with at once.
Which leads to boring advice that is worth real money: respond to the notice, then ask your water system how costs are being assessed for your address and what funding it has, before you pay anybody, including us. Some towns are working through funded replacements in the order people responded. If your job is covered, we would rather do it with that money than have you pay out of pocket for work that was already funded.
Funding sources: NJDEP: lead service line replacement funding requirements · NJDEP: New Jersey Water Bank program · New Jersey Infrastructure Bank · NJDEP lead exposure reduction resources
To be clear about who we are
JWSR is a private excavation contractor. We are not your water system, not your town, and not NJDEP. We cannot process your notice or survey, confirm your place in a funding line, or approve anything, and nobody from our company will ever knock on your door claiming to be from the town or the water company. If somebody does that, call your water system.
Respond to the notice through whoever sent it, which is usually named on your water bill, and call us when there is pipe to put in the ground. Our own borough here in Hamburg is running its version of this program like everyone else, and the contact for it is the borough water and sewer department. Every other town and water company in New Jersey has its own equivalent.
What a service line replacement actually involves
Locate and identify
We find the existing line, confirm what it is made of, and figure out the real path from the main to the house before anything gets dug. Markouts get called in on every job and we wait for the marks.
Curb to house replacement
The full customer side of the service replaced in new copper or approved pipe, set on proper bedding at code depth, so you are not doing half the line now and the other half in five years.
Bore instead of cut
Driveways, walkways, patios, and mature landscaping get bored under where the layout allows, so the surface you paid for stays in one piece.
Water system coordination and inspection
Permits, the tap or connection with your water system, and the inspection scheduled so your trench is not sitting open waiting on paperwork.
Backfill and restoration
Compacted lifts so the trench never telegraphs through your lawn later, then topsoil, seed, and hardscape repair. The job is done when the surface is back, not when the pipe is in.
Emergency breaks
Old service lines fail on their own schedule. We answer around the clock, and a break that has to be dug at 2 a.m. gets the same process, just faster.
Water service lines are core work for us, not a sideline. We do sewer and water line replacement, emergency dig-outs, and utility tie-ins every week across northern New Jersey. See sewer & water line service.
Seven counties, and we travel for the right job
Every town in New Jersey is running this program, so wherever your notice came from, the work is the same. These are the counties we cover day to day. If you are just outside them, call anyway and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right crew for it.
Looking for your specific town? Browse all service areas.
Water lines, on deadline, without wrecking the place
“We have a busy restaurant in Stanhope, Shakey Jakes. We had a water main break that needed 50 ft of digging. They started at 2 am in freezing cold weather so as not to interfere with business. They did as they said and were very professional.”
“I had two recent emergencies and James and his team responded the same day. Immediate callbacks even though they were busy, and the pricing was very fair. And he volunteers as an EMT. Five star ++ rating for sure.”
“Called James on a Wednesday to get an estimate. He met me after work and had the estimate that night. Reasonably priced and the work was completed the next day to help me close on my house quickly. Highly recommend.”
Lead service line replacement, answered
Why did I get this notice or survey now?
Because the state made it an annual deadline. NJDEP requires every water system to send notices to customers on a lead or unknown service line by August 10 each year, and inventories are due to the state by July 10. That is why these letters and door tags show up across New Jersey in the same few weeks every summer. It is a calendar, not a coincidence, and it will happen again next year for every address still marked unknown.
Do I have to replace my water line?
If it turns out to be lead, yes, eventually. New Jersey's 2021 law puts every community water system on a clock to get lead service lines out of the ground by 2031, and the federal rule sets its own deadline behind it. Nobody is shutting your water off next week. But the line is going to be replaced, and the systems with funding in hand are paying for it now rather than later.
Who pays for it, the town or me?
NJDEP says property owners may be responsible for their portion of the line, and then says something more useful: both the public side and the private side are eligible for replacement funding, and the state's principal forgiveness money is earmarked specifically for the customer side. In plain terms, there is state and federal money aimed at the half of the pipe that is normally yours. Whether your address gets it depends on your water system, so ask them how costs are being assessed before you pay anyone.
Can my town replace just their half and leave mine?
Generally no, and that is the point of the law. NJDEP states that water systems cannot do a partial replacement, leaving the customer-owned side for later, except in an emergency or as part of a main replacement project. So when your line comes up, the whole run should be dealt with rather than half now and half in five years.
Can you do the survey for me?
We can tell you what your pipe is made of when we are on site, and plenty of people have us look while we are there for something else. The survey or notice response goes back to your water system, not to us. We are a private contractor, not the water department.
How long does a water service line replacement take?
A typical single-family service line is a one to two day job. We dig from the curb to the house, set the new line on proper bedding at the right depth, coordinate the connection and the inspection, then backfill in compacted lifts and put the grade back. Long runs, rock, and driveways that have to be bored under add time.
Will you tear up my lawn and driveway?
We keep the open trench as short as the job allows, and where it makes sense we bore under driveways, walkways, and hardscaping instead of cutting them. Restoration is part of the job, not an extra. Our customers regularly say they cannot find where we dug a few weeks later.
What if my line turns out to be galvanized steel, not lead?
Galvanized lines matter too, which is why the survey asks about them. Galvanized steel that sat downstream of a lead pipe can hold lead in its interior scale, and after decades in the ground those lines also rust closed and choke your water pressure. Many systems are replacing galvanized along with lead, and the replacement work is the same for us either way.
Do I need a plumber too, or just an excavator?
Usually both trades touch the job, and we work that out with you up front. We handle the excavation, the new service line, the tie-in coordination, the backfill, and the restoration. Where the work inside the house needs a licensed plumber, we coordinate with yours or bring in one we trust.
What if my water comes from a private company instead of the town?
Same program. The law covers public community water systems whether they are run by a municipality, a utilities authority, or an investor-owned company, and they all report inventories to NJDEP and all send the annual notices. The name on your water bill changes who you ask about funding. It does not change the deadline or the work.
The notice in your mailbox, explained
What the water line notice and survey are, what your water system does with your answer, and how to respond without guessing.
Read it →Orangeburg pipe under pre-1975 homes
The other old pipe problem in these towns, and why sewer laterals of a certain age fail the same way.
Read it →Call 811 before you dig
Why markouts happen on every job we run, including a service line replacement in your front yard.
Read it →Line came back lead or galvanized?
Free on-site estimate anywhere we work, and a straight answer on whether your water system's funding should cover it. Call 862-268-2510.
Call 862-268-2510