Lead pipe replacement in Sheffield: how the Yorkshire Water scheme works

Plenty of Sheffield homes still get their water through a lead pipe. If yours was built before 1970 and the supply pipe has never been changed, there is a fair chance yours is one of them. It is worth knowing, because lead can get into drinking water, and because Yorkshire Water has a scheme that shares the cost of replacing it.

Which Sheffield homes have lead pipes

Yorkshire Water says on its lead in water page that homes built before 1970 may have lead pipes, and homes built after 1970 are unlikely to because building regulations changed.

In Sheffield that covers a lot of houses: the Victorian villas of Nether Edge and Broomhill, the stone terraces of Walkley, Crookes and Hillsborough, and many interwar semis. In big villas split into flats, one old lead supply pipe often feeds every flat.

Our Nether Edge area page covers the other plumbing issues in those large period houses.

How to check

Find the pipe that feeds your kitchen cold tap, or the pipe that comes through the cellar wall to your stop tap. Yorkshire Water’s guide:

Material	What it looks like
Lead	Dull grey and soft. Gently scrape it with a coin and you see shiny silver metal
Copper	Hard, bright or dull brown
Iron	Dark, very hard, may be rusty
Plastic	Usually blue, sometimes grey or black

Lead pipes often have rounded, bulbous joints called wiped joints, where two lengths were joined with molten solder.

Why it matters

Yorkshire Water says its water mains are not made of lead and that it tests water at every stage. But when water stands in a lead pipe, it absorbs small traces of lead. Too much lead can be harmful, especially for pregnant women and young children.

If you have lead pipes, Yorkshire Water’s advice is not to use water that has been standing in the pipes for a long time for drinking, cooking or babies’ bottles. First thing in the morning, or after being out all day, run off a washing up bowl of water and use it on plants. Then use the tap as normal.

Very soft water, like the water in much of west and south west Sheffield, is generally more aggressive to metal pipework. The Sharrow supply zone that serves Nether Edge averaged 15.4 mg/l calcium in Yorkshire Water’s 2025 report, which it classes as soft. That is one more reason not to leave old lead in place if you can avoid it.

The free test

You can ask Yorkshire Water to test a sample of your tap water for free. If it finds more than 10 micrograms of lead per litre, it will tell you how to reduce it, and if the pipe supplying your home is lead, it will replace its part for free.

How the lead renewal scheme splits the work

The scheme works like this:

1. You apply to Yorkshire Water using its online portal. You need a site location plan and a photo of the lead pipework at your property.
2. Yorkshire Water assesses your application and tells you the next steps.
3. You replace the lead pipe within your property boundary. That includes the run under your garden, drive or yard, and into the house.
4. Yorkshire Water replaces the lead pipe in the public highway, from the main in the street to your boundary, and connects your new pipe.

Yorkshire Water asks you to wait until it has replied to your application before arranging any work, because your new pipe must meet its requirements before it will connect it. It also recommends using a qualified contractor. Its full guide to lead pipe replacement sets out the details.

What the job involves on your side

Replacing the supply pipe inside your boundary usually means:

• Digging a trench from the boundary to the house, or using a mole to push a new pipe through without a full trench.
• Laying new plastic pipe at the right depth to protect it from frost.
• Bringing it into the house through the wall or floor, with a new stop tap inside.
• Leaving the end ready for Yorkshire Water to connect at the boundary.

In a Sheffield terrace with a small front yard and a cellar, that is often a short run. In a villa with a long front garden, or a house set back up a steep bank, it is longer. Shared lead supply pipes make it more complicated, because neighbours need to agree or have their own new pipes.

The price depends on the length, the ground, what is in the way and how the pipe gets into the house. We give a quote after a look.

Do not forget the earthing

Yorkshire Water warns that homes built before 1966 might be earthed through the metal water supply pipe, unless it has been changed since. If you swap a lead pipe for plastic, that earth connection is lost. Ask an electrician to check your earthing before or straight after the work. Yorkshire Water says it is not responsible for earthing your home.

Help with the cost

Yorkshire Water says you may be able to get a grant from your local council to help with the cost of replacing lead pipes. Contact Sheffield City Council, or Rotherham or Barnsley council if you live there, to ask what is available.

Lead and leaks

Lead pipes are soft and old joints between lead and newer copper or plastic are a common place for leaks. If you have a leak on an old lead supply pipe, it is often a sensible moment to replace it, rather than patch it. Our leak detection page explains how we find leaks on supply pipes, and our post on who fixes a leak explains the boundary rules.

If you think you have lead pipes, send us a photo of the pipe at your stop tap. We can tell you what we think it is and talk you through the scheme.