How to Spot Lead Pipes: Be Sure in 4 Steps

Reading time: ~11 minutes

What is a lead water pipe?

Lead was popular for a practical reason: you could bend it by hand around any corner an old house required, without fittings. That very property makes these pipes so recognisable today, because they look different from the sleek copper and plastic that came after.

How many are still in the ground is better known than you might think. A press release from Vewin (the association of Dutch water companies) mentions roughly one hundred to two hundred thousand lead drinking water pipes in old houses. That is a small minority of Dutch housing, but these are homes where people drink from the tap every day.

At PureFilter we see this question come up often after a move to a pre-war property. The pipes have then been partly renewed, but nobody knows exactly which section. If you want to know what heavy metals in drinking water do, read more in our article on filtering heavy metals from tap water.

Spotting lead pipes: the four features

You can do the four tests below yourself, without tools from the DIY store. They are described in the same way by Waternet (the water company for Amsterdam) and by the Rijksoverheid (the Dutch government). If three or four of them match, the chance of lead is high enough to look further.

1. The colour: dull grey-blue

A lead pipe is dull and grey, sometimes with a bluish tinge. Copper is reddish-brown or yellow and develops a green coating over the years. Galvanised steel is a lighter grey and often blotchy. If your pipe has been painted over, look at a section right behind the water meter, because that part is usually not painted.

2. The scrape test: silver under the grey

Gently run a piece of sandpaper or the back of a knife over the grey pipe. If the metal turns silvery there, it is almost certainly lead. This is the best-known test and the only one that gives you a definite answer in a single move. Scrape lightly: you only need to clean the pipe, not make it thinner.

3. The sound: dull instead of clear

Tap the pipe with a metal spoon. Lead is soft and gives a dull, short sound that does not ring on. Copper and steel sound clear and keep vibrating for a moment. You hear the difference best if you tap two pipes one right after the other.

4. The shape: lumpy and without fittings

A lead pipe is not equally thick everywhere and runs in flowing curves. Where two pieces join, you see no separate fitting but a thickening in the pipe itself, because lead was soldered rather than coupled. If you see neat compression fittings everywhere, you are not looking at lead.

The year of construction as a first filter

Before you dive into the meter cupboard: check the year your home was built. Only homes built before 1960 can still have lead drinking water pipes, and the risk is mainly in buildings from before 1945. If your home was built later, there is no lead in the original installation and you can safely skip the rest of this article. For this check, the RIVM refers to the construction year map of the Atlas Leefomgeving.

Where in the house should you look?

Always start at the water meter and look on both sides of it. The meter is usually in the meter cupboard, but in older homes it may just as well be in the toilet, under the stairs, in the kitchen or under a hatch by the front door.

• At the water meter: the section of pipe right before and right after the meter. This is often the only visible part of the main supply.
• In the crawl space: the pipes run unfinished there and are easiest to assess.
• Under the kitchen sink and in the bathroom: look at the last section leading to the tap.
• Under wooden floors: lift a loose board if that can be done without damage.

Keep in mind that most of the piping is hidden in walls and floors. Visible pipes have often already been replaced during a renovation, while the hidden part was left untouched. That is exactly why the Rijksoverheid advises having your water tested if you want to be certain; that costs about €50.

In some cities the municipality helps. Amsterdam has been actively tracking down lead pipes in old buildings for several years. For how the drinking water in that city is put together otherwise, read our blog on tap water in Amsterdam.

Before or after the water meter: who is responsible?

The water meter is the boundary. What lies before it belongs to the water company, what lies behind it belongs to the owner of the property. That distinction determines whom you need to contact, and therefore also who gets the bill.

For tenants, this route matters more than it sounds. The Rijksoverheid calls lead pipes a defect that you can report to the Rent Tribunal (Huurcommissie) if the landlord does nothing, with a possible rent reduction as a result. If it still stays in place after that, you can go to court. What you may and may not otherwise change about your drinking water as a tenant is covered in our blog on a water filter in a rental home.

Why lead in drinking water is a problem

Lead dissolves in small amounts into the water standing in the pipe. The longer it stands still, the more. The legal limit in the Dutch drinking water rules is 5 micrograms of lead per litre, reports the RIVM.

For comparison: Dutch tap water normally contains about 1 microgram of lead per litre, while in old houses with lead pipes values of up to 35 micrograms per litre have been measured, according to Vewin. That is not a small excess but a factor of seven above the limit.

The RIVM names children up to seven years old, unborn children and bottle-fed infants as the most sensitive groups, and points to the kidneys and blood pressure in adults. That is no reason for panic in a home from 1985, but it is a reason to take a look in a building from 1930. If you prepare bottle feeds, you will find practical guidance in our blog on water for baby formula.

In 2022, a ban on lead pipes was also introduced for child-care locations and rental homes. Schools, daycare centres and landlords may therefore not leave them in place.

You suspect lead: these are your steps

1. Check the year of construction. If the home was built after 1960, you are done.
2. Do the four tests at the water meter: colour, scrape test, sound and shape.
3. Have your water tested if you are not sure. A laboratory test costs about €50 and measures what actually comes out of your tap.
4. Report it to the right party: your water company for the part up to the meter, your landlord or your plumber for the part after it.
5. Flush the tap until then. Let the tap run until the water is noticeably cold before you drink or cook, especially after a night or a holiday.

This flushing is not folklore. The RIVM also recommends it for new taps and new pipes, because higher values can occur precisely in the first months. Water that has stood in the pipe for a long time changes in composition and taste anyway; we wrote about that earlier in how long you can keep tap water.

Do not let that first water go to waste: it is perfectly fine for plants, the washing machine or cleaning.

Replacement: costs, subsidies and rental homes

Replacement is the only solution that removes the problem at the source, and both the RIVM and the Rijksoverheid advise it in so many words. The section from the street to the water meter is replaced by your water company, at no cost to you. The section inside is work for a plumber.

The Rijksoverheid advises checking that the plumber is affiliated with a trade association and registered with the Chamber of Commerce (Kamer van Koophandel). Also ask your municipality whether a subsidy or scheme exists; several municipalities have introduced them since the subject made the national agenda in 2020.

How much it costs depends on the length of the pipe and how accessible it is. A section in a crawl space is a morning's work; a pipe running through three storeys inside the wall is not. Ask for two quotes, and have the quote state that the old lead will be removed completely and not merely capped off.

If you are waiting for an appointment or for a decision from the VvE, it helps to know which kinds of water filters exist and what they do and do not do. That is covered in full on our page on how water filters work and which types exist.

Does a water filter help against lead?

Here the honest answer matters more than the sales answer. A water filter does not replace your pipe. As long as there is lead in the wall, replacement remains the solution, and every authority that deals with this says so too. What a filter does do is purify the water at the point where you drink it.

The PureFilter Mineral+ sits under the sink on the cold water line and filters all 40 tested chemical substances, from 75% to 99.97%, tested by Equinox Labs, an independent laboratory (2026). Lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium are brought below the detection limit in the process. The filter does not disinfect and it is not a water softener.

The practical order is therefore simple: report the lead, have it replaced, and bridge the time in between with flushing and a filter at the point of use. If you want to know which type suits your kitchen, our comparison of the best water filters for the home helps, and the installation itself is explained step by step in the guide to installing a water filter.

Installation takes 5 to 10 minutes and you need only one water pump plier, no plumber. A replacement filter costs €65.00 and lasts up to 12 months for 1 to 3 people, or up to 6 months for 4 or more. If you do not want to think about it, the filter arrives in time on its own with the Filter Plan, for €48 per year for 1 to 3 people. All versions are at the water filters that fit in your kitchen cupboard.

Frequently asked questions

Conclusion

Spotting lead pipes takes you a quarter of an hour in the meter cupboard: look at the colour, scrape a small spot, tap with a spoon and follow the shape of the pipe. Only homes built before 1960 qualify, and in the Netherlands roughly one hundred to two hundred thousand of these pipes are still in place.

If you find lead, the route is clear: the water company for the section up to the meter, your landlord or a plumber for the section after it, and ask the municipality about a subsidy. Until then, flush the tap before you drink or cook.

A water filter is no replacement for that pipe, but it is a way to know what you are drinking in the meantime and afterwards. Which type suits you, you can read at purefilter.nl, and concrete questions about filters and maintenance are in the frequently asked questions. We cover lead in your water specifically in the blog on filtering lead from tap water.