data . willkara
dataset · DEP via NYC Open Data

NYC Lead Service Line Inventory

Per-property classification of the pipe material connecting each NYC building to the city water main, published per the EPA's 2024 Lead and Copper Rule Improvements. The headline is the staggering "Unknown" classification — a public-health signal more than a public-health record.

About this dataset

The NYC Department of Environmental Protection's Lead Service Line inventory, mirrored on NYC Open Data as Socrata dataset jqfp-uff7. Each row is one service line — the pipe connecting one building to the municipal water main — with a classification of its material: Lead, Galvanized Requiring Replacement, Non-Lead, or Unknown. The dataset exists because the EPA's October 2024 Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI) mandates every U.S. utility publish a parcel-level inventory and replace every Lead and Galvanized-Requiring- Replacement line by December 2037.

The Unknown crisis

The dataset's most consequential value is the share of lines classified Unknown. Statewide across New York, ~934,000 service lines have unknown material — meaning the utility doesn't actually know whether the pipe under a given residence is lead, plastic, copper, or galvanized. This data void paralyzes targeted infrastructure spending and obscures public-health risk from millions of residents in older neighborhoods. The political response — the proposed "Find Lead Pipes Faster Act" and the broader "Lead Pipe Replacement Act" — was driven directly by the open publication of this inventory making the blind spots quantifiable.

Source

  • Catalog page: NYC Open Data
  • Endpoint (SODA v3): POST https://data.cityofnewyork.us/api/v3/views/jqfp-uff7/query.json
  • Service lines: —

Caveats

  • The classification reflects the line connecting the street main to the building's curb stop — not internal plumbing. A building classified "Non-Lead" at the service line can still leach lead from internal pipes, fittings, or solder.
  • DEP's source water from upstream reservoirs is rigorously tested and lead-free; lead exposure is exclusively a function of what the water passes through after entering the city's distribution network.
  • "Unknown" is not a transitional state that resolves over time without intervention. The utility has to physically excavate or use predictive modeling (machine learning trained on installation records, building age, etc.) to reclassify each line.

Citation

NYC Department of Environmental Protection (2026). Lead Service Line Location Coordinates. Retrieved recently via NYC Open Data SODA v3.