Webinar Recap: Preparing for LCRI Service Line Inventory Requirements
Lead & Copper Rule
LSL Inventory
November 1, 2027 isn't as far away as it feels. The utilities getting a head start on their baseline LCRI inventory now are going to have a much easier time than the ones who wait. That was the throughline of our January webinar, and here's a taste of what it covered.
The state of play
The Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI) is finalized. It's also being challenged in court. Both of those things are true at once. The timeline runs from the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) October 2024 finalization through a petition for judicial review from the American Water Works Association (AWWA), a pause requested by the incoming administration, and up to oral arguments expected this spring.
The short version: the EPA intends to keep the LCRI as written, and the lawsuit continues in the background. The practical takeaway hasn't changed from last year either. Prepare as if the current rule holds. Catching up later is a lot harder than staying ahead now.
There's also a fiscal year 2025 funding data drop from last November tied to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) worth knowing about, including a shift in the national lead service line estimate and what it means for how funding is allocated across states.
Connectors: the new addition to your service line inventory
This year's inventory has a new resident: connectors. Think pipe – not fitting, not fixture, not solder. Most states treat connector material as separate from service line classification, and right now there's no hard deadline to identify or replace them.
That doesn't make it a "do nothing" item. A handful of common questions came up from utilities working through this already, and a few states are already showing some openness to flexibility here, which is worth knowing before you build your approach.
Turning unknown service lines into progress
Statistical analysis and predictive modeling are two very different tools depending on whether lead or galvanized requiring replacement (GRR) has already turned up in a system, and real case studies from utilities in North Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, California, Texas, Indiana, and Wyoming showed what each approach looks like in practice.
Some systems went from thousands of unknowns to a fully non-lead classification with a few hundred targeted inspections. Others are mid-process, pivoting strategies as state guidance evolves in real time. One theme showed up again and again: the utilities getting ahead of this aren't necessarily the biggest ones or the ones with the cleanest records. They're the ones who started building their case early.
A strategy some utilities are exploring to reclassify certain galvanized service lines came up too, along with a preview of what non-lead validation looks like down the road in 2034.
Watch the Full Session
There's a lot packed into this LCRI Inventory webinar:
- Timelines
- Funding shifts
- Connector definitions
- Verification math
- Real utility numbers
- Q&A covering everything from Consumer Confidence Reports (CCR) to sampling tiers.
If any of this sounds like what your team is working through right now, the full recording walks through every example in detail, numbers included.
Want the full session? Watch the webinar replay here.
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
