Fulton County, along with water providers across the country, are required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to notify customers of the status of their water service lines, whether the material is known or unknown.

To learn more about the water service like material notifications and find the most up to date information, please visit https://www.fcpwleadcopper.com/material-notifications.

The North Fulton Water Distribution System encompasses most of Fulton County north of the Chattahoochee River, including all of Alpharetta, Johns Creek, and Milton, as well as a majority of Roswell. The City of Roswell serves a portion of the southwest portion of the city and is responsible for the inventory there. Information about their program can be found here.

If you are unsure who your water provider is, you can use our Water Service Lookup tool to find out if you are in our service area. You can also check your water bill to find out who your provider is. A Fulton County sample bill can be found here.

Water service lines are small pipes that carry water from Fulton County’s water mains, located in the streets, into homes and other buildings. The County owns the water service line from the main in the street to the water meter. The property owner owns the water service line from the water meter to where it enters the building and connects with the building's internal plumbing.

Water service lines can be lead, galvanized steel, plastic, brass, copper, cast iron, or ductile iron. Water systems commonly used lead for water service lines until 1960. Household plumbing, fixtures, and solder may have used lead until 1990. From 1990 to 2014, "lead free" plumbing fixtures could have up to 8% lead. Current standards for "lead free" fixtures allow no more than 0.25% lead content. The County’s current standard is to install Type K “1 inch” copper for all public service lines, but we do not provide any specifications for private service lines. Some homes and buildings, especially those built before 1990, may have water service lines and/or plumbing and fixtures that have lead.

In order to protect public health and continue providing high-quality drinking water, FCPW is inventorying service line materials to identify any public or private service lines that may need to be replaced.

To check your own water line material, please visit the Checking and Reporting your Water Service Line Material webpage.

If you are unable to self-report your water service line material, you can sign a temporary right of entry (ROE) form for an opportunity to have Fulton County’s contractor to check it. Please note that the contractor is only conducting material inspections at some properties, so signing this form does not guarantee an inspection. More information about our field inspection program can be found here.

To sign the ROE form, please visit this link. 

All customers who are listed in the inventory of having a lead service line or a service line of unknown material will receive annual notification letters until there are no such service lines in the Fulton County service line inventory. The most up to date version of the water service line inventory can be found here.

We encourage customers, if able, to help us speed up our service line classification process by identifying their own service line material. Use the tools and guidance at https://www.fcpwleadcopper.com/check-your-water-service-line-material to find out the material of your service line and report your findings to our dedicated inventory team.

The County is taking multiple actions to reduce the potential exposure to lead through drinking water including:

· Treating drinking water according to federal and state standards to remove harmful contaminants and help prevent lead from dissolving into the water. The Atlanta-Fulton County Water Treatment Plant uses corrosion control treatment techniques to prevent the leaching of lead into the water from any plumbing components that may contain lead

· Regularly testing drinking water for lead. Fulton County Public Works tests samples of water from points throughout our distribution system for a variety of water quality parameters, including lead.

· Creating a water service line material inventory to document water service line material. You can check the material of your service line with some simple tests. If you are able to determine the material of your service line, please use our Water Service Line Self-Reporting Form to update us.

To see more water testing results, please view our annual Drinking Water Quality Reports.

Fulton County is currently not conducting system wide lead and copper compliance testing at this time, but we do have a sign-up form here for those who are interested in water sampling. This will allow us to easily get in touch with interested customers when we next conduct compliance sampling.

To learn more about the possible health effects of lead in water, or to learn more about the results of our water testing, please review our annual Drinking Water Quality Report. Fulton County’s water meets or exceeds all relevant requirements for drinking water quality.

You can take many steps to decrease your lead exposure in drinking water, including:

· Using fresh, cold, running water for drinking, cooking, and preparing baby formula.

· Do not boil water to remove lead. Boiling water does not remove lead and can instead increase the concentration of lead in water.

· Removing and cleaning faucet screens and aerators every 3 months.

· Buying a National Sanitation Foundation (NSF)-Certified home water treatment device, faucet, or pitcher filter that removes lead. The device must be both NSF 42- and NSF 53-certified to remove lead. A faucet mounted filter or pitcher filter is recommended, over a whole house filtration system because the water could pick up lead from sources inside the home after the filtration system. The faucet mounted filter and pitcher filters remove lead immediately before the water is consumed. Visit this website to learn more about water filters.

· Buying plumbing fixtures (faucets, valves, sinks, hose bibs, etc.) that have zero- or low-lead content meeting the current "lead-free" requirements. Read the labels of any new plumbing fixtures closely.

· Before drinking water or making baby formula, run the tap, take a shower, do laundry, or do a load of dishes to flush the pipes. Showering and flushing the toilet will help clear out your water service line if water has gone unused for more than 6 hours. This flushes the standing water and brings fresh water from the water main line. You can also run the tap for a short period of time, depending on the size of the property and the length of the water service line.