In late 2024, the Chattanooga News Chronicle reported that approximately 44,000 Tennessee American Water customers had received letters warning that service lines supplying their properties contained lead, galvanized steel, or materials whose composition was unknown.
Now, nearly two years later, Chattanooga is moving toward a more comprehensive solution: replacing hazardous service lines, including portions traditionally owned by property owners.
On October 23, 2026, Chattanooga’s City Council moved to support for Tennessee American Water performing replacement work on the customer-owned portion of these lines. Set for the November 3 City Council Agenda is a resolution that reveals action is in motion.
But who does the work of replacing pipes that were either lead or copper, noted to be harmful by the Environmental Protection Agency?
In 2024, approximately 44,000 customers received notification letters. That did not mean 44,000 homes had lead pipes. The American Water Company estimated 3,000 company-owned lead pipes were known and that “customer-owned lead lined remained unidentified” in testimony before Tennessee’s Public Utility Commission.
Due to federal regulations which establish a 2037 replacement deadline of lead and galvanized service lines, a law was passed and effective as of July 1, 2026, permitting qualifying waters systems to perform certain lead-related work on private property with owner consent.
In September 2026, Tennessee American Water began field inspections in Chattanooga, East Ridge, Red Bank, Lookout Mountain, and Rossville, Georgia. Contractors are examining previously unidentified pipe materials, sometimes through small excavations near water meters.
Affected customers will receive advance notification and findings following inspection.
In 2024, Tennessee American Water requested approximately $13.9 million in additional annual revenue. Regulators approved only $1 million in January 2025.
The Tennessee Attorney General’s Consumer Advocate estimated the resulting increase at approximately 38 cents monthly for an average Chattanooga customer, compared with the roughly $4 monthly increase originally requested by the utility company.
Significantly, the Consumer Advocate previously objected to recovering customer-owned lead-line replacement costs through utility charges, arguing that customers without lead lines would subsidize properties requiring replacement.
Residents can examine their property’s classification using Tennessee American Water’s interactive service-line map. The national map must be zoomed in to the Chattanooga area with the geography revealing a circle divided in half in the legend.
The left half of each symbol represents utility-owned piping; the right half represents customer-owned piping. If there is black, it represents verified lead pipes. White means “unknown” material, and blue represents verified lead-free.
The exact web address is as follows and must be copied precisely to access the interactive map:https://experience.arcgis 997839853a040a8b1f330523b8d929b/
An unknown designation does not establish contamination nor guarantee those household taps are free of lead.
Visit the interactive map. Speak with your Chattanooga City Council member to ask questions on your behalf in the November 3 meeting. Your drinking water has a significant impact on your health. Remain aware. But also ask who foots the bill.