Lead Content Sampling

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Proactive Protection for Your Water Supply

Lead contamination poses significant health risks — especially to children, pregnant women, and other vulnerable groups.

Our professional lead testing service helps homeowners, landlords, schools, and businesses identify potential risks early and take decisive action. 

With London & Surrey Water Services, you gain peace of mind, knowing your drinking water is safe and compliant with regulatory standards.

Why Lead Testing Matters

Lead contamination is silent — it’s tasteless, odourless, and invisible to the naked eye. It typically enters your water supply through ageing lead service pipes, soldered joints, or older plumbing fixtures. Even at low levels, lead exposure can cause irreversible harm:

  • In children: impaired cognitive development, lower IQ, behavioural issues
  • In adults: high blood pressure, kidney damage, cardiovascular complications

Homes and buildings constructed before 1970 are especially likely to contain lead pipework. Regulations currently limit lead in drinking water to 10 µg/L, but this threshold is expected to tighten to 5 µg/L in the coming years. 

Testing gives you peace of mind and ensures you meet your responsibilities as a homeowner, landlord or duty‑holder..

What’s Involved – The Lead Testing Process

We follow industry best practices to ensure thorough, accurate testing:

 What If Lead Is Detected?

    1. Consultation: We assess your needs based on property age, plumbing type, and health risk factors.
    2. Water Sampling: We take water samples from key points in your system:
      • Random Sample
        Taken at any time of day to establish general lead exposure levels.

      • Overnight Sample (First-Draw)
        Collected first thing in the morning before any taps are used. Captures water that has been in prolonged contact with internal pipes overnight.

      • Flushed Sample
        Collected after letting the tap run until the water runs consistently cold. This isolates water from the mains supply, helping to distinguish internal vs. external contamination sources.

      • Stagnation Sample
        Taken 30 minutes after flushing. This assesses lead leaching from internal pipes and fixtures after short-term stagnation.                                                                        3. Testing:

      • Photometer Testing is done on-site.
      • Lab Samples are submitted to our UKAS-accredited partner laboratory.
    1. Report & Recommendations:
      • Clear interpretation of results
      • Risk rating and health advisory
      • Tailored next steps for remediation if needed

Should we detect elevated lead levels, we will provide clear, actionable guidance:

  • Pipe and Fitting Replacements – Full lead pipe removal and replacement
  • Certified Filters – Installation of approved filtration systems
  • Flushing Protocols – Professional flushing to help reduce short-term exposure
  • Follow-Up Testing – Ensure the issue has been fully resolved

 Who Should Book Lead Testing?

We strongly recommend lead testing if:

  • You live in a property built before 1970
  • You’ve never had your water tested for lead
  • You manage rental properties or housing for vulnerable individuals
  • Your school, nursery, or healthcare facility uses older plumbing
  • If you suspect the ilegal use of lead based solder

 

0800 037 1247
enquiries@approved-plumbers.london
www.approved-plumbers.london

Your health starts with safe water. Let’s make sure yours is lead-free.

Our Lead Testing Methods

Lead content sampling involves taking water samples from various points within your plumbing system. We provide two levels of testing:

UKAS-Certified Lab Testing (Detailed Analysis)

  • Full Chemical Analysis: Conducted by accredited professionals
  • Certified Accuracy: Trusted for legal or compliance documentation
  • In-Depth Reporting: Includes actionable insights and risk evaluations
  • Ideal For: Landlords, public buildings, schools, or regulatory requirements

Photometer Testing (On-Site)

  • Instant Results: Accurate readings in under 30 seconds
  • Simple Process: No lab delays — just sample, dip, and read
  • Ideal For: Homeowners, rental properties, and regular monitoring

Book your lead test today

Protect your property and the people who rely on your water supply. Contact London & Surrey Water Services to schedule lead testing or to discuss your concerns with our qualified team.

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Additional Services

Lead testing is often just the starting point of a wider water safety plan. Once you understand your current lead levels, you can take targeted action to safeguard your supply.

Lead Pipe & Fittings Replacement

If test results show elevated lead, full replacement is the safest, most effective solution. We replace lead pipes with modern MDPE, improving water quality, and flow,. — often with support from Thames Water’s Lead Pipe Replacement Scheme.

Shared Supply Pipe Replacement

Flats and mansion blocks across London often share outdated water supplies that cause elevated lead risks. We repipe shared systems with modern MDPE, restoring safe, reliable flow to all connected homes with minimal disruption and fully compliant

Separation From A Shared Supply Pipe

Many older properties still rely on shared supply pipes, which can affect pressure and increase contamination risk. We install dedicated new supplies for each property, improving safety, independence, and flow

Point of Use Filter Installation & Sales

Where replacement isn’t immediately possible, we supply and install certified lead filters at taps used for drinking or food prep. These provide fast, effective protection at the point of use — ideal as a short-term or targeted solution.

Programmed Testing & Pipe Replacement

For landlords, schools, housing providers, and businesses, we offer routine testing plans to monitor lead risk over time, keep tenants or service users safe, and stay ahead of evolving water quality regulations

Post-Remediation Testing & Certification

After any replacement or repair, we re-test your water to confirm lead levels are safely reduced. Follow-up testing ensures peace of mind and confirms that your system meets water quality standards

The benefits of using our lead testing Services

We adopt a best practice approach to the work we carry out and ensure compliance with the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999

Experienced Contractors

We have been  Water Industry approved plumbers and impact moling contractors for almost two decades, working exclusively on new connections, customer side leaks, and lead replacement

Certified Compliance

On completion of lead pipe renewals or a water supply pipe upgrade, we issue a certificate of works completed, which can be submitted to Thames Water to progress applications or satisfy enforcement notices.

Guaranteed Workmanship

Our certificates confirm that our workmanship satisfies the requirement of the water regulations. They also act as our guarantee of ten years for full supply pipe replacement and two years for supply pipe repairs.

What Our Customers Say

We've built a solid reputation through our continually growing customer base as the most trusted team of Approved Plumbers and Moling Contractors in London.

Mark Gunn Bromley, BR1

I would highly recommend Alan. I wish we had found him earlier because it would have saved us both time and money. We had a water leak at our house which could not be located. I contacted other “experts” in underground water problems before finding Alan, none of them could offer a convincing solution. Alan is an expert in this area and articulated very clearly the alternative solutions and the pros and cons of each. Alan is very professional, hard working and tidy - you would not be able to tell that concrete and flagstones were removed to do the work. Excellent job.

Alexander Ritchie Dulwich, SE19

We had a severe water leak that was flooding the basement of our house. Alan and Grant dealt with this emergency straight away. The organisation for our job was efficient, and we were kept informed at all points in the process. The repair was complex. It required moling through the basement exterior wall and installing a new connection to our internal supply. Alan carried this difficult task out efficiently and quickly, causing the least disruption possible, and it was a pleasure to deal with both him and Grant. Their price for the work was very reasonable. highly recommend!

David Haslett New Malden, KT1

Alan went above and beyond when installing my new water mains. He was prompt, professional, communicative, and really helpful, taking time after the job was done to offer advice on getting the best out of the new supply. I am amazed at how quickly he could get the job done and left the house so clean afterwards you would never have known he was there. The fact he is Thames Water approved was also a huge bonus and made the whole process much quicker and easier. I can't recommend him highly enough and would 100% use London & Surrey Water Services again.

David Haslett New Malden, KT1

Alan went above and beyond when installing my new water mains. He was prompt, professional, communicative, and really helpful, taking time after the job was done to offer advice on getting the best out of the new supply. I am amazed at how quickly he could get the job done and left the house so clean afterwards you would never have known he was there. The fact he is Thames Water approved was also a huge bonus and made the whole process much quicker and easier. I can't recommend him highly enough and would 100% use London & Surrey Water Services again.

Frequently Asked Questions

We adopt a best practice approach to the work we carry out and ensure compliance with the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999

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Our Service Area

South London – Bromley – Croydon – Merton – Kingston – Sutton – Wandsworth – West London – Brent – Ealing – Hammersmith  – Harrow  – Richmond Hillingdon – Hounslow – East London – Lewisham – Greenwich – Hackney – Tower Hamlets – Newham – Bexley – Waltham Forrest – North London – Barnet –Enfield– Haringey – Central London – Camden – City of London – Kensington – Islington – Lambeth – Southwark – Westminster – Surrey – Elmbridge – Epsom  Guildford – Mole Valley – Reigate –  Runnymede – Spelthorne – Surrey Heath – Tandridge – Waverley – Woking