A lead water test has to happen at your own tap, because lead almost always enters from the plumbing between the street and your faucet: lead service lines, old solder, brass fittings. You cannot see, smell or taste it, and your city's system-wide report cannot clear your individual house. A certified lab sample taken correctly settles the question for good.
Why your city's report is not your answer
Every community water system publishes an annual Consumer Confidence Report, and the EPA maintains a finder for them. Read yours: it tells you about the treated water leaving the system and the system's lead monitoring. What it cannot tell you is what happens in the last stretch of pipe that only serves your house. Two neighbors on the same main can get different lead results because one has a lead service line or older solder and the other does not. The report is context; your tap sample is the verdict.
First-draw versus flushed: take both samples
Lead leaches into water while it sits in the pipes, so the standard protocol is a first-draw sample from water that has been standing overnight, followed by a flushed sample after the line has run clean. The first-draw shows your worst case, the flushed sample shows whether the source or the premise plumbing is the contributor. A certified drinking water lab will ship you the bottles with instructions; follow the standing time exactly, because a casually taken sample can understate the problem.
Kits, labs, and what to do with a bad result
Home lead strips give a fast yes-or-no at a coarse threshold and are fine as a screen. A certified lab gives you a number you can act on and repeat. If the result is bad: use only cold water for drinking and cooking, flush the tap after standing periods, and look into a lead-certified filter or reverse osmosis at the drinking tap while you address the plumbing itself. Well owners should fold lead into their regular panel, since private wells are not federally regulated and no one else is sampling them; our guide to well water testing near you covers finding a certified lab.
Questions people ask about lead water test
Can I taste or see lead in water?
No. Lead is invisible and tasteless at the concentrations that matter, which is exactly why testing at the tap is the only way to know your house's status.
Does boiling water remove lead?
No, and it can concentrate it slightly as water evaporates. Removal at the tap means a lead-certified filter or reverse osmosis, not heat.
How often should I retest for lead?
Retest after any plumbing work, after a change in water source or treatment, and periodically if your first result showed any detectable lead at all.