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Reducing Risk

What can you do to reduce your risk of lead exposure from water?

1. Flush your tap: Run the water daily for 3 minutes before using

Why? Because it takes time for lead to accumulate in water. 

  • Independent lab tests of water collected from Milwaukee homes shows that running your tap for three minutes every morning (or anytime after water has been sitting still inside your lead service line for more than 6 hours) reduces the amount of lead in your water. 
  • A typical lead service line is less than 100 feet long, contains less than 5 gallons of water, and costs less than 2 cents to flush.
  • Running your tap for three minutes clears the water that has been sitting in the service line and brings in fresh water from the water main.
  • Water in Lake Michigan (our source water) and in Milwaukee's distribution system contain less than 1 part per billion of lead.
    • The EPA's Action Level for lead is 15ppb.
    • The EPA and public health experts recommend flushing as a proven method to reduce lead risks. 

 

2. Use a water filter that removes lead

Individuals with greater risk for lead accumulation should drink and cook only with tap water filtered with an NSF 53 certified filter:

  • Children under age six, especially infants that are fed formula which is made with water
  • Women who are pregnant or who are of child-bearing age
  • Women who are breastfeeding

If you are not using a filter, drink and cook only with water from your cold tap, and ensure the water has been flushed for at least three minutes. 


 

3. Other Recommendations 

Recommendations for everyone who lives at a home or apartment with a lead service line:

  • Drink and cook only with water from the cold water tap.
  • Run cold water for three minutes before drinking and cooking with it.  
  • When there is ongoing construction in your area, such as water main replacement or other street and sewer projects, flush household plumbing at the end of each construction work day and when the project is completed. Find instructions here. 
  • Replace your lead service line and plumbing with copper on your own timeline. Find out more about the Owner Request Option here.
  • Regularly unscrew and rinse the screen, or aerator, on the end of each faucet. You can replace the same screen after rinsing it clean.  

 

 

What is Milwaukee Water Works doing to reduce risk?

Milwaukee Water Works has been adding orthophosphate to Milwaukee's water since 1996. The image above shows a corroded lead pipe (center)
and one treated with orthophosphate (right).

Corrosion Control

Lead service lines in Milwaukee are treated with a corrosion control method that prevents lead from leaching into your drinking water.

  • Lead can leach into water as lead pipes to corrode over time, due to natural oxidation of the metal. 
  • Oxydation occurs when oxygen in water comes in contact with lead.
  • Orthophosphate, a common food additive, inhibits and slows corrosion of lead pipes.
  • The orthophosphate coats the inside of lead pipes, forming a barrier between the oxygen in water and the lead pipe.
  • Water Works adds orthophospate as a final step in the water treatment process, before purified water leaves one of our two water treatment plants.
  • Milwaukee Water Works has been adding orthophosphate to Milwaukee's water since 1996.

Click here to read our corrosion control report presented to the Milwaukee Common Council on March 1, 2022. 

The graph below shows how lead levels in Milwaukee tap water dropped after starting our corrosion control program in 1996. Federal Lead & Copper Rule tests are conducted every three years. 

Milwaukee federal Lead and Copper Rule results of lead sampling 1993 - 2023

 

Results of our sampling for lead content at residential properties

For the results of our 2017 federal Lead & Copper Rule testing at residential properties with a lead service line, click here. 

For the results of our 2020 federal Lead & Copper Rule testing at residential properties with a lead service line, click here. 

For the results of our 2023 federal Lead & Copper Rule testing at residential properties with a lead service line, click here. 

 

For the results of our 2022 and 2023 testing at residential properties prior to replacement of a lead service line, click here.

For the results of our 2022 and 2023 testing at residential properties after replacement of a lead service line, click here.

For all 2022 and 2023 retest data, click here. 

 

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